The Effect of War on the U.S. Federal Courts of Appeals: an Analysis of U.S. Appeals Court Treatment of War Related Cases

Abstract:     
How is judicial decisionmaking in the United States affected by the presence of war? To contribute to this question we analyzed changes in U.S. Courts of Appeals decisions during times of war and peace, bridging current analyses by assessing the influence of war on the outcome of civil rights cases and criminal rights cases and on war related cases only. Going beyond the sample database to identify cases related to the wars in question and using a measure that captures the intensity of war, we show that the courts are not immune to the changed circumstances during times of war and that judges on the U.S. Courts of Appeals tend to vote more conservatively in times of war and with increased intensity of war. These influences are even more pronounced in cases related to war and while war appears to produce changes in judicial behavior in non-trivial ways.

working papers series