Patterns and Consequences of Judicial
Reversals: Theoretical Considerations and Data from a District Court
Joseph
L. Smith
An important but mainly unexamined topic for
understanding court systems is the effect of reversals on the decision making of
lower-court judges. Specifically, we
do not know whether lower-court judges alter their patterns of decision making
in response to reversals by higher courts. This
question is important, as reversal is an important tool that higher courts can
use to induce lower courts to implement legal policy.
The assumption that lower-court judges learn from and respond to
reversals is an important factor in the theoretical cohesiveness of the American
court system. Using the U.S.
District Court for the District of Columbia as the basis for a study, I find
support for the notion that judges react to reversals by changing their
decision-making patterns in predictable ways.
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