Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published April 2016 | Supplemental Material + Submitted
Journal Article Open

Signaling and Counter-Signaling in the Judicial Hierarchy: An Empirical Analysis of En Banc Review

Abstract

We leverage the institutional features of American courts to evaluate the importance of whistleblowers in hierarchical oversight. Drawing on a formal theory of signaling in the judicial hierarchy, we examine the role of whistleblowing dissents in triggering en banc review of three-judge panels by full circuits of the Courts of Appeals. The theory generates predictions about how dissent interacts with judicial preferences to influence circuits' review and reversal decisions, which we test using original and existing data. First, we show that judges who dissent counter to their preferences are more likely to see their dissents lead to review and reversal. Second, we show that dissents are most influential when the likelihood of non-compliance by a three-judge panel is highest. Our results underscore the importance of dissent in the judicial hierarchy and illustrate how judicial whistleblowers can help appellate courts target the most important cases for review.

Additional Information

© 2015 Midwest Political Science Association. Article first published online: 6 JUL 2015. We thank Tom Clark and Stefanie Lindquist for generously sharing data with us. We thank Alex Acs, Chuck Cameron, Tom Clark, Paul Collins, Greg Huber, Lewis Kornhauser, Chris Zorn, and seminar participants at Yale, Penn State, Washington University, and Ohio State University for helpful comments and suggestions. Data and replication code for this article can be found at the AJPS Data Archive on Dataverse, at doi:10.7910/DVN/29495.

Attached Files

Submitted - bhkemp_for_web.pdf

Supplemental Material - ajps12193-sup-0001-Appendix.pdf

Files

ajps12193-sup-0001-Appendix.pdf
Files (636.1 kB)
Name Size Download all
md5:1a0e3fab84eb7cd2d7e1bd6da02c50aa
119.5 kB Preview Download
md5:de5188867b11653483a2d44119be6376
516.6 kB Preview Download

Additional details

Created:
August 20, 2023
Modified:
October 23, 2023