Law in judicial decision-making

Authors

• David Klein, Eastern Michigan University

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2017

Department/School

Political Science

Publication Title

The Oxford handbook of U.S. judicial behavior

Abstract

Years of effort by many talented and creative scholars to gauge the influence of law on judicial decision-making have produced payoffs, but the payoffs do not seem commensurate with the work that has gone into producing them. After reviewing some of the most important approaches and findings, this chapter identifies key obstacles to progress and suggests a new strategy for making more headway against them. The strategy begins by recognizing that ultimately the questions driving empirical and theoretical inquiry into law’s influence are often less about law itself than about the propriety of judicial decision-making. The chapter concludes with suggestions for empirical questions to complement more familiar ones about the role of law in judges’ decisions.

Comments

D. Klein is a faculty member in EMU's Department of Political Science.

Recommended Citation

Klein, D. (2017). Law in judicial decision-making. In L. Epstein & S. A. Lindquist (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of U.S. judicial behavior (pp. 236–252). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199579891.013.5