We study how campaign contributions affect the voting strategies and effectiveness of justices in the Supreme Court of eight US states. A judge’s voting strategy leans more heavily towards an interest group the larger are its contributions to the judge, and the smaller are its contributions to other members of the court. This panel effect is consistent with an equilibrium response to contributi...

In legal theory, it is widely claimed that decisions in hard cases are based on weighing and balancing. However no reconstructions are given of the deep structure of the complex argumenation underlying the justification of these decisions. The author develops a model for the analysis of weighing and balancing of arguments in the justification of judicial decisions that are based on teleological...

For ‘legal constitutionalists’, written constitutions, constitutive of the legal and political system, superior to other legislation, entrenched against change, and enumerating justiciable rights, guarantee equal respect and concern for all citizens. Judicial review is thus an essential support of democracy. In this book, Richard Bellamy offers a robust argument against this view of constitutio...

This Article will discuss the decisions of the Inter-American Court, comparing them with U.S. judicial decisions involving “state action” and private conduct. It will point out the evolution in international law from restraints on the exercise of state power, to the more generalized obligation of ensuring respect for human rights. This Article concludes that the American Convention provides gua...

The creation of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is widely regarded as an improvement in the system of patent litigation in the United States. However, there is still support for the creation of a specialized patent court at the trial level. Much of the support for the creation of such a court derives from the argument that most judges have too little experience to be familiar with ...

OBJECTIVE To analyze, from the examination of decisions issued by Brazilian courts, how Evidence-Based Medicine was applied and if it led to well-founded decisions, searching the best scientific knowledge. METHODS The decisions made by the Federal Courts were searched, with no time limits, at the website of the Federal Court Council, using the expression "Evidence-Based Medicine". With regard...

This paper examines the effect of judicial ideology on the selection and outcome of telecommunications regulatory cases. Using a dataset on Federal Communications Commission orders and trials from 1990 to 1995, this paper shows that changes in the make-up of the bench of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals affects not only who wins the cases, but also the cases selected for litigation. Specifical...

normative constitution is the highest law system and the consistency of this system requires, following the rules below from the superior rules. from this view, preservation of the constitution as the fundamental law governing the legal system of each country needs to legal ways of controlling instruments. this process is followed from two distinct complementary routes of constitutionalization ...

Title of thesis: REFOCUSING ON GENDER: CAN FOCAL CONCERNS THEORY EXPLAIN GENDER DISPARITIES IN SENTENCING OUTCOMES? Rebecca L. Richardson, Master of Arts, 2015 Thesis directed by: Professor Brian Johnson Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice Focal concerns theory argues that sentencing decisions reflect judges’ beliefs about three primary considerations: blameworthiness of the defendan...