We wish to test three hypotheses:
Ideological voting
Ideological dampening
Ideological amplification

In short, are judicial votes predictable from their ideology? Can we predict votes based on the political party of the appointing president? Are judges affected by their colleagues? Do conservative judges vote more conservatively when sitting with other conservatives? Do liberal judges become less liberal when sitting with conservative judges? We are compiling a massive database to answer these questions.

In a preliminary investigation, we found that ideology affects judicial voting in many cases. The Chicago Judges Project will substantially expand the empirical examination. In addition, the extended study will apply the findings to enduring questions in both jurisprudence and politics. It will explore how judicial behavior relates to the question of judicial neutrality, the nature of the rule of law, and the appropriate behavior of the Senate and the President in the confirmation process.