Advances and Applications in Statistics
Volume 37, Issue 2, Pages 123 - 148
(December 2013)
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A STATISTICAL APPROACH TO JUDICIAL AUTHORSHIP: A CASE STUDY OF JUDGE EASTERBROOK
Kelly Bodwin, Jeffrey S. Rosenthal and Albert H. Yoon
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Abstract: Legal scholars have long been interested in the extent to which judges rely on their law clerks in writing judicial opinions. Recent scholarship provides compelling evidence that Supreme Court justices increasingly rely on their clerks. Distinguishing between judge-written and clerk-written opinions is difficult, since this information is typically kept within chambers. The opinions of Judge Frank Easterbrook of the U.S. Court of Appeals provide a unique opportunity: he writes his own opinions, aside from allowing each of his clerks to write a first draft of one opinion (typically towards the end of her clerkship). This article examines linguistic and stylistic elements of Judge Easterbrook’s opinions to establish analytically the degree of similarity in his writing style compared to his clerks and fellow 7th Circuit judges. We find that Judge Easterbrook’s opinions are clearly identifiable from those of his fellow jurists. By contrast, his clerks’ writings are statistically distinct but less identifiable. Our study supports the view that even with close judicial oversight, clerks’ writing cannot be made exactly equivalent to their judges. It also provides evidence for the effectiveness of a clerkship experience such as Judge Easterbrook’s, in which clerks are given a lengthy opportunity to learn both his stylistic and substantive approach to the law. |
Keywords and phrases: judicial opinions, law clerks, authorship identification, rare words, function words. |
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