Gender Attitudes in the Judiciary: Evidence from US Circuit Courts

A-Tier
Journal: American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
Year: 2024
Volume: 16
Issue: 1
Pages: 314-50

Authors (3)

Elliott Ash (Eidgenössische Technische Hoch...) Daniel L. Chen (not in RePEc) Arianna Ornaghi (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

1.341 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Do gender attitudes influence interactions with female judges in US circuit courts? In this paper, we propose a judge-specific measure of gender attitudes based on use of gender-stereotyped language in the judge's authored opinions. Exploiting quasi-random assignment of judges to cases and conditioning on judges' characteristics, we validate the measure showing that higher-slant judges vote more conservatively in gender-related cases. Higher-slant judges interact differently with female colleagues: they are more likely to reverse lower court decisions if the lower court judge is a woman than a man, are less likely to assign opinions to female judges, and cite fewer female-authored opinions.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aejapp:v:16:y:2024:i:1:p:314-50
Journal Field
General
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-24