In 2008, over a quarter of sitting judges were women and 15 percent were African-American or Hispanic.
Underlying the argument for a diverse federal judiciary has been the expectation that the presence of women and minorities will ensure that the policy of the courts will reflect the experiences of a diverse population. Yet until now, scholarly studies have offered only limited support for the expectation that judges’ race, ethnicity or gender impacts their decision making.
In Diversity Matters, Susan B. Haire, an associate professor of political science and director of criminal justice studies at UGA, and Laura P. Moyer, UGA alumna, employ new methods of analysis to offer a fresh examination of the effects of diversity on the many facets of decision making in the federal appellate courts.
