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Cognitive Aging and the Federal Circuit Courts: How Senescence Influences the Law and Judges

Online ISBN:
9780197747056
Print ISBN:
9780197747025
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Cognitive Aging and the Federal Circuit Courts: How Senescence Influences the Law and Judges

Ryan C. Black,
Ryan C. Black
Professor of Political Science, Michigan State University
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Ryan J. Owens,
Ryan J. Owens
Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Patrick C. Wohlfarth
Patrick C. Wohlfarth
Professor of Government and Politics, University of Maryland
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Published online:
24 October 2024
Published in print:
15 April 2025
Online ISBN:
9780197747056
Print ISBN:
9780197747025
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

Cognitive aging affects all people. Judges are people. Therefore, cognitive aging must affect judges. Today’s federal circuit court judges are older than ever. Yet scholars know next to nothing about the consequences of cognitive aging on these judges. The central effort of this book is to examine the effects of cognitive aging on federal circuit court judges. The authors undertake a rigorous empirical approach, focusing on a variety of judicial behaviors, including opinion writing, bargaining, voting, and more. The book uncovers a number of sobering trends. Judges require more time to craft their opinions as they age. They tend to rely more on cognitive shortcuts when they bargain over opinion content. Their written opinions become less cognitively complex as they age. Aging judges increasingly rely on their law clerks to write their opinions and borrow more language from party briefs. Their judicial colleagues are less likely to cite older judges’ opinions. Aging judges apply Supreme Court precedent in an increasingly ideological manner. And their legal influence on panels wanes while susceptibility to persuasion increases. Cognitive aging appears to influence nearly everything federal circuit court judges do. These findings speak to a broader policy debate about judicial tenure. The authors test public support for a handful of reforms and find surprisingly high support for them. There is no utopian or perfect cure for the problems associated with cognitively aging judges. But incremental changes that remain loyal to judicial independence might alleviate some of the most pernicious consequences.

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