Ideological Power Up
University of Chicago Law Professor Cass Sunstein has a short but interesting post on Open University. It mentions something that I remember hearing in passing once about judges...
A few years ago, I was involved in some studies that uncovered a funny fact: When Republican-appointed judges sit on three-judge panels with other Republican appointees, they show unusually conservative voting patterns. So too, Democratic-appointed judges on three-judge panels show especially liberal voting patterns when sitting with fellow Democratic appointees. In short, like-minded judges show a pattern if "ideological amplification."I've been devoting the bulk of my time to reading appeals court opinions since the Supreme Court went into recess. I will have to be much more mindful while reading of which judges are on the panel.
The presence of even one Republican appointee often makes Democratic appointees much more moderate. Republican appointees often become much more moderate when even a single Democratic appointee is there.
