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7 J.L. & Cts. 1 (2019)

handle is hein.journals/jlawct7 and id is 1 raw text is: Determinants of Writing Style on the United States Circuit Courts of Appeals JE FFRE Y BUD Z IAK , Western Kentucky University MATTHE W P. HIT T, Colorado State University DANIEL LEMPERT, SUNYPotsdam ABSTRACT A rapidly burgeoning literature in judicial politics concerns the variation in elements ofwriting style such as reading difficulty, cognitive complexity, affective language, and informality in judicial opinions. Some of these studies argue that judges strategically alter their writing style in anticipation of reactions from other actors. Others indicate that writing style is a function of judge characteristics as well as case-related factors. We investigate the correlates of writing style in US Circuit Courts of Appeals by analyzing a stratified ran- dom sample consisting of 11,771 opinions. Construing style broadly to encompass several dimensions sug- gested by prior work, we find that case and judge characteristics explain substantially more variance in writing style than do strategic considerations. Political scientists frequently examine how choices made by actors shape the outputs of the political process. Empirically minded scholars tend to focus on actors' choices rather than the content of the resulting outputs: discrete choices lend themselves to systematic classi- fication and are thus easily amenable to examination using quantitative techniques (e.g., Poole and Rosenthal 1997). This does not suggest that empirically minded scholars are uninterested in the substantive content of outputs. However, systematically classifying con- tent raises many difficult methodological questions. Classifying the choice made by a leg- islator on a roll-call vote is relatively simple; systematically classifying the content of the bill itself is more difficult. Yet comprehensive explanation of the political process requires an understanding of both the choices made by actors and the content of those choices. We thank Larry Baum, Julian Brooke, Greg Caldeira, Morgan Hazelton, and the reviewers and editor for helpful comments and suggestions. We also thank Brook Spurlock for excellent research assistance. Daniel Lempert acknowledges support from a New York State/United University Professions Individual Development Award. Contact the corresponding author, Daniel Lempert, at lemperds@potsdam.edu. Journal of Law and Courts (Spring 2019) © 2018 by the Law and Courts Organized Section of the American Political Science Association. All rights reserved. 2164-6570/2019/0701-0001$10.00. Electronically published December 14, 2018.

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