The relative effects of maturation,time period,and appointing president on district judges' policy choices: A cohort analysis

Using cohort analysis, this study addresses this primary question: What are the relative effects of appointing president, maturation, and time period on U.S. trial judges' voting behavior on civil rights and civil liberties cases? Specifically, we measure the relative impact of these variables on the liberalism of Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon appointees to the federal district courts. The data for the study are 4,553 opinions issued by these three presidents between 1969 and 1976 that were published in theFederal Supplement. In part, the study reveals that the effects of appointing-president cohorts are much stronger than the influence of maturation or time period. We also found that the Kennedy and Nixon cohorts have remained relatively stable over time and unaffected by maturation effects. The Johnson cohort, on the other hand, has become increasingly more liberal across time, particularly since the advent of the Burger Court.