NCJ Number
173258
Journal
Justice System Journal Volume: 19 Issue: 2 Dated: 1997 Pages: 181-191
Date Published
1997
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This article presents results from a study of Federal district court decision-making between 1970 and 1990 in cases involving either religious liberties or the free exercise and establishment clauses of the first amendment, and tests the author's organizing framework for judicial decision-making which predicts that Federal courts will respond to political factors when the case involves a major issue or affects major organized interests.
Abstract
The author had argued in previous research that political variables, including judge partisanship, presumed desires of judicial constituents, and interest group involvement in litigation, may be significantly related to judicial decision-making when a case involves a major issue, when powerful groups are interested in case outcome, or both. To test that hypothesis, data were obtained on Federal court decision-making during the 1970-1990 period. The dependent variable in data analysis was whether case outcome was pro-religion. Independent variables included the age of the judge at the time he or she rendered a decision, the sex of the judge, whether the judge was religious, whether the judge was a political activist, judge political party affiliation, extent of religious interest group involvement in the case, and region of the country where the case was tried (South, Midwest, Northeast, or West). In cases dealing with religious liberties, the involvement of pro-religion groups in litigation was significantly related to case outcomes. More specifically, the involvement of pro-religion groups in litigation was significantly related to a pro-religion decision by Federal district courts in cases dealing with the free exercise and establishment clauses of the first amendment. Federal judges who were classified as political activists because they held one or more elective or appointive officers before their ascension to the Federal bench were slightly more likely to render a pro-religion decision, but this variable was not significant. Courts in the West were the only courts that tended to have pro-religion case outcomes, but this was not significant either. All other regions recorded anti-religion outcomes, including the Northeast (not significant), the South (significant), and the Midwest (significant). Male judges were more significantly more likely to render a pro-religion decision than female judges. The results do not nullify the author's hypothesis because pro-religion groups were associated with pro-religion case outcomes in religious liberties cases adjudicated by Federal district courts. 39 references and 1 table