Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Role of the U.S. Courts of Appeals in Legal Development: An Empirical Analysis

法律发展的原因和后果是什么？近年来，学者们已经开始解决这些具有挑战性的问题，但仍有许多工作要做。联邦法院系统的中级法院（又称巡回法院）提供了一个充满机会的制度背景，以扩展我们对法律发展的理论和经验理解。本项目以三种方式利用了这些机会。第一部分是考察巡回法院对国家政策扩散的影响。关于医疗程序、选举法和家庭法方面的州立法的通过和内容的数据将阐明联邦宪法判例法与州法律发展的交叉关系。核心主张是，当立法具有潜在的联邦影响时，州立法者将受到同一联邦巡回法院管辖下的其他州的更大影响。该项目的第二和第三部分利用巡回法官对过去二十年来搜查和扣押案件的先例的引用，以深入了解法律和法律制度结构对司法行为的影响程度。巡回法院的先例在本巡回法院具有约束力，但在其他巡回法院仅具有说服力。因此，意识形态对如何对待一个先例的影响，在其自己的巡回法院审议时，应该明显小于在其姊妹巡回法院审议时。此外，巡回法院引用自己具有约束力的先例的细微差别可能会受到对案件是否会被整个巡回法院审查和推翻的战略预期的影响。对这两种期望的实证检验将有助于进一步了解联邦法院系统这一重要机构如何影响法律发展，又如何被法律发展影响。至于更广泛的影响，这个项目将有助于培养一名研究生。此外，关于法院的公开辩论涉及司法意识形态的重要性。该项目将有助于提供有关司法决策复杂性和对公众辩论影响的信息。

What are the causes and consequences of legal development? In recent years scholars have begun to address these challenging questions, yet there is still much work to be done. The intermediate level of the federal court system (a.k.a., circuit courts) provides an institutional context replete with opportunities to extend our theoretical and empirical understanding of legal development. This project takes advantage of these opportunities in three ways. The first component is an examination of the impact of circuit courts on state policy diffusion. Data on the adoption and content of state legislation regarding medical procedures, election law, and family law will shed light on the intersection of federal constitutional case law and the development of state law. The central claim is that state legislators will be more heavily influenced by other states under the jurisdiction of the same federal circuit when legislation has potential federal implications. The second and third segments of this project leverage circuit judges' citation to precedent in search and seizure cases over the last twenty years in order to gain insight into the extent to which law and the structure of legal institutions influence judicial behavior. A circuit court precedent is binding in its own circuit, but merely persuasive in other circuits. Consequently, the effect of ideology on how a precedent is treated should be significantly less when it is considered in its own circuit than when considered by a sister circuit. Moreover, the nuances of a circuit's citation to its own binding precedent are likely to be influenced by strategic anticipation of whether a case will be reviewed and overturned by the entire circuit. Empirical testing of both of these expectations will contribute to further understanding of how an important institution, the federal court system, both influences and is influenced by legal development. With regard to broader impact, this project will contribute to the training of a graduate student. In addition, public debates concerning the courts address the significance of judicial ideology. This project will contribute to providing information concerning the complexity of judicial decisionmaking and influence to the public debate.