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Judicial Independence: Evidence from a Natural Experiment
Author(s) -
Graves Scott E.,
Howard Robert M.,
Corley Pamela C.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
law and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.534
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1467-9930
pISSN - 0265-8240
DOI - 10.1111/lapo.12014
Subject(s) - judicial independence , independence (probability theory) , judicial discretion , law , political science , voting , constitution , judicial activism , judicial review , natural experiment , judicial opinion , test (biology) , supreme court , politics , paleontology , statistics , mathematics , biology
In this article, we directly test the presence of judicial independence by examining judicial recess appointees who have later been confirmed by the Senate to full‐time Article III judicial positions. Specifically, we compare the votes of recess‐appointed courts of appeals judges during their temporary appointment tenure with a similar period following Senate confirmation. We find substantial differences in pre‐ and postconfirmation voting, suggesting that the structural protections of the Constitution provide judges a certain amount of independence.