How Interpersonal Contact Affects Appellate Review

Prominent explanations for appellate review prioritize the ideological alignment of lower and reviewing courts. We suggest that interpersonal relationships play an important role. The effect judge’s ideology on her decision to reverse depends level contact between trial judge due information provided by social professional interactions. Relying a data set all published Fourth Amendment search-and-seizure decisions from 1953 2010, we find can dampen in review. When court have frequent contact, is essentially imperceptible. These findings speak importance principal-agent arrangements generally implications structure federal judiciary our understanding limits judicial decision-making.