How do judicial elections affect the propensity of judges to write opinions that are understandable to the public? Drawing on a growing literature that analyzes the content of judicial opinions computationally, I examine the readability of all state supreme court search and seizure decisions from 2000-2010. I assess the hypothesis that, just as judicial elections increase judges’ propensities t...

Among political scientists who study the courts, explanation of judicial behavior is the issue that receives the most attention. That issue is also a major concern in legal scholarship. Of course, judicial behavior takes many forms and occurs in many settings. The aspect of judicial behavior on which scholars typically concentrate is the decisions that appellate courts (and especially the Supre...

In February 2007, the American Bar Association (“ABA”) revised its Model Code of Judicial Conduct, including significant changes in both form and substance.1 The adoption of the 2007 Judicial Code concluded a three-and-a-half year revision process by the ABA Joint Commission to Evaluate the Model Judicial Code (“Commission”).2 During the revision process, the Commission solicited comment on a n...

In most states, trial judges’ sentencing is constrained by both ex ante constraints, in the form of mandatory and guideline sentences, and ex post review, often by the electorate. Might voters alter their evaluation of judges given the existence of boundaries on judicial discretion? Further, can legislators exploit this response? We present a model of ex ante and ex post control of judges given...

INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 966 I. THE JUDICIAL FEDERALISM DEBATE ............................................... 967 A. Evolution of Judicial Federalism in the United States ............ 967 B. The Arguments in the Dependent-Independent Debate .......... 969 II. ANALYZING THE LOCKSTEP DOCTRINE IN ILLINOIS JURISPRUDENCE .......

id=1115357); Thomas J. Miles & Cass R. Sunstein, The Real World of Arbitrariness Review, 75 U. CHI. L. REV. (forthcoming 2008); Sunstein et al., supra note 10. 860 BOSTON UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW [Vol. 88:855 Table 1 Relationship Between Financial Sacrifice and Voting Patterns Controlling for Panel Effects Probit Model Regressors Model(1) Model (2) Model (3) Model (4) dem. judges dem. judges rep. ...

Our judicial system has generally accepted the use of scientific and technological developments geared to apprehending criminals.' Some widely used crime detection techniques that have gained judicial support are blood,2 urine, 3 and breath tests,4 which determine bodily alcohol or narcotics content; radar equipment, which measures automobile speed;5 ballistic examinations, which assist in the ...

Introduction This Overview has two primary purposes. First, it provides judicial system officials with the arguments in favor of and in opposition to the creation of specialized courts. Second, it offers recommendations for consideration by judicial system officials when they are deliberating whether to establish specialized courts. This Overview also provides a review of types of specialized c...

The United States Sentencing Commission was created to develop federal sentencing guidelines, which restrict judicial discretion and were found to increase the average sentence length while leaving unchanged the likelihood of resolution through plea bargaining. A game theoretic model is developed in which a sentencing commission may impose guidelines or defer to judicial discretion; then a defe...