Judges and Their Audiences: A Perspective on Judicial Behavior

by Lawrence Baum

Book Overview

What motivates judges as decision makers? Political scientist Lawrence Baum offers a new perspective on this crucial question, a perspective based on judges' interest in the approval of audiences important to them.

The conventional scholarly wisdom holds that judges on higher courts seek only to make good law, good policy, or both. In these theories, judges are influenced by other people only in limited ways, in consequence of their legal...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691138273
• ISBN13: 9780691138275
• Release Date: August 2008
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Judging those who Judge Judges

Finally a book that seeks to escape the narrow paradigm that has seemed to have trapped scholars of judicial behavior. Lawrence Baum's impressive account of judges' audiences as an influence on their decision-making is refreshing as it departs from the intuitive but overstated theory of judges as "single-minded seekers of policy". Baum's book provides a thoughtful, comprehensive and more realistic examination of the multiple motivations of judges...

A Fine Addition to the Literature on Judicial Behavior

Professor Baum has added another important book to the literature on judicial behavior in this interesting volume. Building upon some themes in his influential "The Puzzle of Judicial Behavior" (1997), his intent is to suggest in this exploratory study an additional perspective on judges. First, he succinctly reviews the major models used to study judicial behavior--attitudinal, strategic and legal. He suggests that students of the judiciary also would have much to gain by focusing upon the audiences judges seek to impress. Moreover, judges seek to impress these "salient" audiences not only for strategic reasons (such as promotion or to enhance their influence among colleagues), but because they covent the esteem of these groups for its own sake. An interesting chapter discusses judging as self-presentation, including some useful concepts from social psychology. The remaining chapters target particular audiences: colleagues, the public, other branches, social and professional groups, "policy groups" such as the Federalist Society, and the news media. His discussion of the so-called "Greenhouse effect" whereby judges become integrated into the liberal Washington social set (i.e., the Georgetown crew) is interesting, but lacks persuasive support, especially given the Washington Post's recent assertion that McLean, Virginia is the new power center, and it isn't inhabited by liberals to be sure. Baum recognizes that he lacks much data to support this approach since studies employing it have not been undertaken; but this is only a suggestive study and so this is not a major defect. Superior research is evidenced in his notes; the bibliography in and of itself is a substantial contribution. And best of it, it is quite a readable book for the general public, as well as specialists in the field.