Gender and Race Shape Who Writes Published vs Unpublished Court Opinions

Judges Law Courts Justice @R&P 1 Stata file 2 Datasets Dataverse

Authorship in U.S. circuit courts often reflects gender and racial disparities.

Findings: White and male judges are more frequently assigned to write published opinions while less so for unpublished ones.

Our analysis uses an original dataset of all dispositive circuit panel opinions from 2012.
The observed differences in assignment likelihood between demographic groups are statistically significant but relatively modest.

Real-World Relevance:

These patterns suggest systemic barriers:

Historically marginalized judges face fewer opportunities to shape precedent and policy through published work.
They disproportionately handle the less prestigious task of authoring unpublished opinions.

This nuanced understanding extends existing research on representation in judicial politics.

Article card for article: of Whites and Men: How Gender, Race, and Publication Impact Authorship Assignment in the U.S. Courts of Appeals

of Whites and Men: How Gender, Race, and Publication Impact Authorship Assignment in the U.S. Courts of Appeals was authored by Elizabeth A. Tillman and Rachael Hinkle. It was published by Sage in R&P in 2018.