Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Fall 2013

Department

Political Science

Abstract

Underlying scholarly interest in diversity is the premise that a representative body contributes to robust decision-making processes. Using an innovative measure of opinion content, we examine this premise by analyzing deliberative outputs in the US courts of appeals (1997-2002). While the presence of a single female or minority did not affect the attention to issues in the majority opinion, panels composed of a majority of women or minorities produced opinions with significantly more points of law compared to panels with three Caucasian males.

Comments

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published in Journal of Law and Courts, Volume 1, Number 2, Fall 2013: 303-330.

Original Publication Information

Haire, Susan, Laura Moyer, and Shawn Treier. 2013. “Diversity, Deliberations, and Judicial Opinion Writing.” Journal of Law and Courts 1(2): 303-330.

ORCID

0000-0002-5802-801X

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