Deciphering Courts of Appeals Decisions Using the U.S. Courts of Appeals Data Base

Is one circuit significantly more conservative or liberal than the others? Do circuit courts consistently avoid deciding the substance of certain appeals by concluding that the plaintiffs lack standing? Have state governments been more successful than other parties when they appeal adverse district court rulings? Do appeals courts act in a majoritarian or countermajoritarian manner with regard to elected institutions and the general public? The United States Courts of Appeals Data Base, an extensive data set of courts of appeals decisions, can address these and other questions about the circuit courts. This article describes the background, scope, and content of the database, explains how to use it, and illustrates applications to research questions of interest to the diverse law and social science community interested in courts of appeals

Nonpublication in the Eleventh Circuit: An Empirical Analysis

This Article examines the criteria used by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in determining whether or not a judicial opinion should be published. Through an empirical study and analysis, the authors conclude that the written rule governing publication offers little guidance to the judges and is often applied inconsistently within the circuit

Ideology, Status, and the Differential Success of Direct Parties Before the Supreme Court

A substantial literature on lower federal courts and state courts suggests that the haves usually come out ahead in litigation because they possess superior resources for it and they reap advantages from their repeat player status. We investigate the success of 10 categories of litigants before the Warren, Burger, and Rehnquist Courts to determine whether the resources or experience of litigants has effects on Supreme Court outcomes paralleling those found in the courts below. While different categories of litigants are found to have very different rates of success, those differences do not consistently favor litigants with greater resources. A time series analysis of the success of different categories of litigants over the 36 years studied suggests that the changing ideological complexion of the Court has a greater impact on the success of litigants than differences among litigants in resources and experience

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Nonpublication in the Eleventh Circuit: An Empirical Analysis

This Article examines the criteria used by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in determining whether or not a judicial opinion should be published. Through an empirical study and analysis, the authors conclude that the written rule governing publication offers little guidance to the judges and is often applied inconsistently within the circuit