Routledge Handbook of Judicial Behavior

Interest in social science and empirical analyses of law, courts and specifically the politics of judges has never been higher or more salient. Consequently, there is a strong need for theoretical work on the research that focuses on courts, judges and the judicial process. This Handbook provides the most up to date examination of scholarship across the entire spectrum of judicial politics and behaviour, written by a combination of currently prominent scholars and the emergent next generation of researchers. The articles contained within will generate additional scholarly and public interest by focusing on topics most salient to the academic, legal, and policy communities.

Robert M. Howard is Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Howard received his bachelor’s degree from Union College in Schenectady, New York, earned a law degree from Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts, and a Masters and a Ph.D. in American Politics and Public Law from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. His main research interests are the impact of courts and litigation on social and public policy, and judicial decision making by the Federal Courts. He is the author or co-author of four books, including Judging Law and Policy: Courts and Policymaking in the American Political System and Getting a Poor Return: Courts, Justice and Taxes. In addition he has published articles in leading political science and law journals such as Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly and Law and Society Review on topics such as Courts and Public Policy, Courts and Bureaucratic Impact, Lawyer Regulation, Supreme Court decision-making, and the Supreme Court and public opinion. Dr. Howard was a former editor of the Justice System Journal, was the program chair for Law and Courts section for the 2006 American Political Science Association Annual Conference, and is currently the Executive Director of the Southern Political Science Association and the Editor of the Routledge book series, Law, Courts and Politics.

Kirk A. Randazzo is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, and Director of the Carolina Leadership Initiative at the University of South Carolina. Professor Randazzo’s research and teaching interests span the fields of American Politics, Comparative Politics, and Methodology – with a particular focus on law and judicial politics. His work focuses on legal constraints to judicial decision making, strategic behavior among judges, and aspects of judicial independence within fledgling democracies. He is the author of three books including Checking the Courts: Law, Ideology and Contingent Discretion (co-authored with Richard Waterman and published in 2014 by SUNY Press), Judicialization of Politics: The Interplay of Institutional Structure, Legal Doctrine, and Politics on the High Court of Australia (co-authored with Reginald Sheehan and Rebecca Gill and published in 2012 by Carolina Academic Press), and Defenders of Liberty or Champions of Security? Federal Courts, the Hierarchy of Justice, and U.S. Foreign Policy (published in 2010 by SUNY Press. Additionally, he has also published articles in journals such as the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, American Politics Research, the Justice System Journal, Experimental Economics, and in various law reviews. He earned his Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 2003. Prior to his current appointment at USC, he was a faculty member at the University of Kentucky.