Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T13:15:44.453Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Motivations of Individual Judges and How They Act as a Group

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

States have a significant influence on the selection of judges to international courts. This raises the concern that judges will be biased in favor of their home states, a concern backed by some empirical research. To counter that danger, international courts usually sit in large and diverse panels. Scholars have argued that this gives judges only rare occasions to tip the balance in favor of their home states. The problem begins, however, when judges start forming coalitions among themselves, giving judges with national biases a practical possibility to change the result of cases. To assess the magnitude of this threat to judicial independence, the paper draws on decades of scholarship in the field of judicial behavior. By understanding how judges behave, scholars can come closer to deciphering the true impact of judicial selection to international courts on international judgments.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by German Law Journal GbR 

References

1 See Erik Voeten, The Politics of International Judicial Appointments, 9 Chi. J. Int'l. L. 387, 401402 (2009)Google Scholar

2 Statute of the International Court of Justice, Article 4.Google Scholar

3 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Article 36.Google Scholar

4 Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes, Article 17(2).Google Scholar

5 The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Article 253.Google Scholar

6 See Voeten, supra note 1, at 401.Google Scholar

7 Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Article 20, 22.Google Scholar

8 See Krenn, Christoph, Self-Government at the Court of Justice of the European Union: A Bedrock for Institutional Success, in this issue.Google Scholar

9 Following Resolution CM/Res(2010)26 on the Establishment of an Advisory Panel of Experts on Candidates for Election as Judge to the European Court of Human Rights.Google Scholar

10 See Cali, Basak & Cunningham, Stewart, Judicial Self Government and the Sui Generic Case of the European Court of Human Rights, in this issue.Google Scholar

11 See Posner, Eric A. & de Figueiredo, Miguel F. P., Is the International Court of Justice Biased?, 34 J. Legal Stud. 599, 608 (2005).Google Scholar

12 See Voeten, Erik, The Impartiality of International Judges: Evidence from the European Court of Human Rights, 102 Am. Pol. Sci. Rev. 417, 420 (2008).Google Scholar

13 Statute of the International Court of Justice, Article 20.Google Scholar

14 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Article 36(9)(a).Google Scholar

15 Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Article 23(1) was amended by Protocol No. 14.Google Scholar

16 See Posner & Figueiredo, supra note 11, at 608.Google Scholar

17 See Voeten, supra note 12, at 427.Google Scholar

18 See id. at 425; Posner & Figueiredo, supra note 11, at 624.Google Scholar

19 See Voeten, supra note 12, at 426.Google Scholar

20 Statute of the International Court of Justice Article 31Google Scholar

21 Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Article 26(4).Google Scholar

22 See Posner & Figueiredo, supra note 11 at 623-624.Google Scholar

23 See Voeten, supra note 12 at 431.Google Scholar

24 See Segal, Jeffrey A. & Spaeth, Harold J., The Supreme Court and the Attitudinal Model Revisited 44114 (2002).Google Scholar

25 See Gillman, Howard, What's Law Got to Do with It? Judicial Behavioralists Test the “Legal Model” of Judicial Decision Making, 26 L. & Soc. Inquiry 465, 485486 (2001).Google Scholar

26 See examples for factors studied by theories on judicial background at: Neal Tate, Personal Attribute Models of the Voting Behavior of U.S. Supreme Court Justices: Liberalism in Civil Liberties and Economics Decisions 1946-1978, 75 Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev. 355, 355 (1981); Joel B. Grossman, Joseph Tanenhaus, Toward a Renascence of Public Law in Frontiers of Judicial Research 3, 14 (ed. Joel B. Grossman, Joseph Tanenhaus, 1969).Google Scholar

27 See Segal & Spaeth, supra note 24 at 86.Google Scholar

28 Cf. Howard, J. Woodford Jr., On the Fluidity of Judicial Choice, 62 Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev. 43, 44 (1968). Howard argues that judges change their opinions following deliberations. For attitudinal responses to this argument see Maveety, Nancy & Maltese, John Anthony, J. Woodford Howard Jr.: Fluidity, Strategy and Analytical Synthesis in Judicial Studies in The Pioneers of Judicial Behavior 228, 234-237 (ed. Nancy Maveety, 2003).Google Scholar

29 See Schubert, Glendon, The Judicial Mind Revisited – Psychometric Analysis of Supreme Court Ideology 11 (1974).Google Scholar

30 See id. at 18-19.Google Scholar

31 See Segal & Spaeth, supra note 24 at 320.Google Scholar

32 Id. at 320-321.Google Scholar

33 See Goldman, Sheldon, Voting Behavior on the Unites States Courts of Appeals 1961-1964, 60 Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev. 374, 379380 (1966).Google Scholar

34 See Segal, Jeffrey A. & Cover, Albert D., Ideological Values and the Votes of U.S. Supreme Court Justices, 83 Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev. 557 (1989).Google Scholar

35 See Posner, Richard A., How Judges Think 2022 (2008) (demonstrating how this investigation can be conducted in different ways and in varying levels of complexity).Google Scholar

36 See Cross, Frank B. & Tiller, Emerson H., Judicial Partisanship and Obedience to Legal Doctrine: Whistleblowing on the Federal Courts of Appeals, 107 Yale L.J. 2155, 2158 (1998).Google Scholar

37 See Hettinger, Virginia A, Lindquist, Stefanie A., Martinek, Wendy L., Comparing Attitudinal and Strategic Accounts of Dissenting Behavior on the U.S. Courts of Appeals, 48 Amer. J. Pol. Sci. 123, 125126 (2004).Google Scholar

38 See id. at 126.Google Scholar

39 See id., at 135.Google Scholar

40 See Gibson, James L., Judges’ Role Orientations, Attitudes and Decisions: An Interactive Model, 72 Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev. 911 (1978).Google Scholar

41 See Hart, H. L. A., The Concept of Law (1961) 124-126.Google Scholar

42 See Leiter, Brian, Legal Realism, in A Companion to Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory 261, 266 (Dennis Patterson ed., 1996); Dagan, Hanoch, The Realist Conception of Law, 57 U Toronto LJ 607, 614615 (2007).Google Scholar

43 See Leiter, supra note 42 at 266-267; Dagan, supra note 42 at 616.Google Scholar

44 See Koskenniemi, Martti, From Apology to Utopia: The Structure of International Legal Argument 590591 (2005).Google Scholar

45 See Bjorge, Eirik, The Evolutionary Interpretation of Treaties 2122 (2014).Google Scholar

46 See id. at 21.Google Scholar

47 Barak, Aharon, Judicial Discretion 5866 (1987) (Hebrew).Google Scholar

48 See id. at 35-41.Google Scholar

49 See Cross & Tiller, supra note 36 at 2174. Another potential explanation for the same empirical finding is that even a minority judge can threaten to write a dissent which would increase the chances of appeal or legislative overruling and the other judges act strategically to preempt this by changing their judgments, see id. at 2173-2174. An alternative reason for why judges tend to lower their ideological commitments when sitting in a panel with judges who have other attitudes could be that judges negotiate a compromise to align the decision to the preferences of all panel member. Judge may even have a long-term strategy and consider the willingness of their panel members to compromise as part of an ongoing relationship where concessions are repaid in future cases, see Cass Sunstein, R., Schkade, David, Ellman, Lisa M. & Sawicki, Andres, Are Judges Political? An Empirical Analysis of the Federal Judiciary 6466 (2006).Google Scholar

50 See Posner, supra note 35 at 29.Google Scholar

51 See Lee Epstein, Jack Knight & Andrew D. Martin, The Political (Science) Context of Judging, 47 St. Louis U. L. J. 783, 798 (2003).Google Scholar

52 See Epstein, Lee & Knight, Jack, Toward a Strategic Revolution in Judicial Politics: A Look Back, a Look Ahead, 53 Pol. Res. Q. 625, 632; Lee Epstein & Jack Knight, The Choices Justices Make 19 (1998).Google Scholar

53 Hirst v. The United Kingdom (No. 2), judgment of 6 October 2005, 2005-IX EUR. Ct. H.R. 187.Google Scholar

54 See e.g. Ulmer, S. Sidney, Toward a Theory of Sub-Group Formation in the United States Supreme Court, 27 The Journal Of Politics 133.Google Scholar

55 See Walker, Thomas G., Behavioral Tendencies in the Three-Judge District Court, 17 Amer. J. Pol. Sci. 407 (1973).Google Scholar

56 See Danelski, David J., Social Psychology and Group Choice, in The Pioneers of Judicial Behavior 248, 252 (Nancy Maveety ed., 2003).Google Scholar

57 See Murphy, Walter F., Elements of Judicial Strategy 90 (1964).Google Scholar

58 See McKaskle, Paul L., The European Court of Human Rights: What It Is, How It Works, and Its Future, 40 U.S.F. L. REV. 1, 2631 (2005).Google Scholar

59 See Cartier, Stéphanie & Hoss, Cristina, The Role of Registries and Legal Secretariats in International Judicial Institutions, in The Oxford Handbook of International Adjudication 712, 713-14 (Romano, Cesare P.R. et al. eds., 2013).Google Scholar

60 See Vauchez, Antoine, Communities of International Litigators, in The Oxford Handbook of International Adjudication 655, 657 (Romano, Cesare P.R. et al. eds., 2013).Google Scholar

61 See Dothan, Shai, Luring NGOs to International Courts: A Comment on CLR v. Romania, 75 Heidelberg J. Int'l L. 635, 642650 (2015).Google Scholar

62 See Dothan, Shai, A Virtual Wall of Shame: The New Way of Imposing Reputational Sanctions on Defiant States, 27 Duke J. Comp. & Int'l. L. 141 (2017).Google Scholar

63 See Cohen, Felix S., Transcendental nonsense and the functional approach, 35 COLUM. L. REV. 809, 843 (1935).Google Scholar

64 See generally on the way institutional structure affect behavior: James March and Herbert Simon, Organizations (1958) chapter 6.Google Scholar

65 See Atiyah, P. S. & Summers, Roberts, Form and Substance in Anglo-American Law – A Comparative Study of Legal Reasoning, Legal Theory and Legal Institutions 288 (1987).Google Scholar

66 See Shai Dothan, Reputation and Judicial Tactics: A Theory of National and International Courts 3945 (2015) (expanding on the theoretical analysis of dissents in strategic courts and providing multiple examples of judges who were pressured not to dissent to serve the court's strategic interest).Google Scholar

66 See Garoupa, Nuno & Ginsburg, Tom, Reputation, Information and the Organization of the Judiciary, 4 J. Comp. L. 228, 243 (2009) (arguing that Chief Justice Marshall directed the United States Supreme Court to use more unanimous decisions when the status of the court was relatively low); Robert Post, The Supreme Court Opinion as Institutional Practice: Dissent, Legal Scholarship, and Decisionmaking in the Taft Court, 85 Minn. L. Rev. 1267, 1314–1319 (2001) (showing how in the first half of the 1920s the United States Supreme Court under Chief Justice Taft suppressed dissents because the court came under heavy criticism. When the criticism subsided, the court became less unanimous. After the court's strategic analysis, pages 1319-1328 present alternative reasons for this phenomenon such as changes in the composition of the court and in Taft's leadership).Google Scholar

68 See Clayton, Cornell & Gillman, Howard, Introduction, in The Supreme Court In American Politics – New Institutionalist Interpretations 1, 2 (Howard Gillman & Cornell Clayton ed., 1999).Google Scholar

69 See Gillman, Howard & Clayton, Cornell W., Beyond Judicial Attitudes: Institutional Approaches to Supreme Court Decision-Making, in Supreme Court Decision-Making – New Institutionalist Approaches 1, 6-7 (Cornell W. Clayton & Howard Gillman ed., 1999).Google Scholar

70 See Segal, Jeffrey A., Separation-of-Powers Games in the Positive Theory of Congress and Courts, 91 Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev. 28 (1997).Google Scholar

71 See e.g. Eskridge, William N. Jr., Reneging on History? Playing the Court/Congress/President Civil Rights Game, 79 Cal. L. Rev. 613 (1991); William N. Eskridge Jr., Overriding Supreme Court Statutory Interpretation Decisions, 101 Yale L. J. 331 (1991); Omri Yadlin, Judicial Activism and Judicial Discretion as a Strategic Game, 19 Bar Ilan Uni. Uw Rev. 665 (2003) (Hebrew).Google Scholar

72 See Helfer, Laurence R. & Slaughter, Anne-Marie, Toward a Theory of Effective Supranational Adjudication, 107 Yale L.J. 273 (1997).Google Scholar

73 See Posner, Eric A. & Yoo, John C., Judicial Independence in International Tribunals, 93 Cal. L. Rev. 1 (2005).Google Scholar

74 See Helfer, Laurence R. & Slaughter, Anne-Marie, Why States Create International Tribunals: A Response to Professors Posner and Yoo, 93 Cal. L. Rev. 899 (2005).Google Scholar

75 See Ginsburg, Tom, Bounded Discretion in International Judicial Lawmaking, 45 Va. J. Int'l L. 631 (2005).Google Scholar

76 See Shany, Yuval, Assessing the Effectiveness of International Courts: A Goal-Based Approach, 106 Amer. J. Int'l. L. 225 (2012).Google Scholar

77 See Dothan, supra note 66, Dothan, Shai, Judicial Tactics in the European Court of Human Rights, 12 Chi. J. Int'l. L. 115 (2011).Google Scholar

78 See e.g Kosař, David, Selecting Strasburg Judges: A Critique, in Selecting Europe's Judges: A Critical Review of the Appointment Procedures to the European Courts 120 (Michal Bobek ed., 2015); Cosette Creamer & Zuzanna Godzimirska, The Job Market for Justice: Screening and Selecting Candidates for the International Court of Justice, 30 Leiden J. Int'l. L. 947 (2017).Google Scholar