Trial and Appellate Judging in the Measure of Judicial Responsiveness

Abstract

In Triangulating Judicial Responsiveness: Automated Content Analysis, Judicial Opinions, and the Methodology of Legal Scholarship, Chad Oldfather, Joseph Bockhorst, and Brian Dimmer initiate a provocative dialogue about measuring judicial responsiveness by providing innovative tools for assessing how closely judicial opinions hew to the arguments and information provided by litigants.

This brief comment responds to the authors’ analysis by examining whether a more accurate characterization of their project is that they are quantifying appellate judicial responsiveness, and by suggesting that the authors might consider a broader definition of judicial responsiveness to account for litigation materials beyond appellate briefs.

Keywords: civil procedure, appellate procedure, judges, empirical studies, litigation