The Long and the Short of It: The Influence of Briefs on Outcomes in the Roberts Court

This Article considers the role of information, affected groups, and persuasion in the connection between justice votes and the content of briefs in the Roberts Court. Hazelton, Hinkle, and Spriggs shed new light on the previously observed finding that the side with the most briefs is more likely to win. The authors find that the true advantage lies in providing the Court with a greater amount of information overall, and that holding total information constant, a greater number of briefs is, surprisingly, a disadvantage

How one circuit court judge can stop a higher court from establishing a legal precedent

Not all legal cases establish a legal precedent – federal circuit court appeal opinions often go unpublished and thus only apply to the dispute in question. In new research, Morgan L.W. Hazelton, Rachael K. Hinkle, and Jee Seon Jeon find that the decision whether or not to publish such opinions can have an influence on whether a judge issues a dissent from the majority. If the circuit court is substantially different ideologically from a higher court, judges can pre-emptively silence a dissenting opinion by deciding that it will not be published, thus negating the chance that their decision will be reviewed by a higher court

What Political Science Can Contribute to the Study of Law

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116252/1/rle12.pd

On Replication and the Study of the Louisiana Supreme Court

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116256/1/gj10.pd

Replication Data for: The Influence of Unique Information in Briefs on Supreme Court Opinion Content

Replication Files for: The Influence of Unique Information in Briefs on Supreme Court Opinion Conten

Risk loci involved in giant cell arteritis susceptibility: a genome-wide association study

Background Giant cell arteritis is an age-related vasculitis that mainly affects the aorta and its branches in individuals aged 50 years and older. Current options for diagnosis and treatment are scarce, highlighting the need to better understand its underlying pathogenesis. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have emerged as a powerful tool for unravelling the pathogenic mechanisms involved in complex diseases. We aimed to characterise the genetic basis of giant cell arteritis by performing the largest GWAS of this vasculitis to date and to assess the functional consequences and clinical implications of identified risk loci. Methods We collected and meta-analysed genomic data from patients with giant cell arteritis and healthy controls of European ancestry from ten cohorts across Europe and North America. Eligible patients required confirmation of giant cell arteritis diagnosis by positive temporal artery biopsy, positive temporal artery doppler ultrasonography, or imaging techniques confirming large-vessel vasculitis. We assessed the functional consequences of loci associated with giant cell arteritis using cell enrichment analysis, fine-mapping, and causal gene prioritisation. We also performed a drug repurposing analysis and developed a polygenic risk score to explore the clinical implications of our findings. Findings We included a total of 3498 patients with giant cell arteritis and 15 550 controls. We identified three novel loci associated with risk of giant cell arteritis. Two loci, MFGE8 (rs8029053; p=4·96 × 10–8; OR 1·19 [95% CI 1·12–1·26]) and VTN (rs704; p=2·75 × 10–9; OR 0·84 [0·79–0·89]), were related to angiogenesis pathways and the third locus, CCDC25 (rs11782624; p=1·28 × 10–8; OR 1·18 [1·12–1·25]), was related to neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). We also found an association between this vasculitis and HLA region and PLG. Variants associated with giant cell arteritis seemed to fulfil a specific regulatory role in crucial immune cell types. Furthermore, we identified several drugs that could represent promising candidates for treatment of this disease. The polygenic risk score model was able to identify individuals at increased risk of developing giant cell arteritis (90th percentile OR 2·87 [95% CI 2·15–3·82]; p=1·73 × 10–13). Interpretation We have found several additional loci associated with giant cell arteritis, highlighting the crucial role of angiogenesis in disease susceptibility. Our study represents a step forward in the translation of genomic findings to clinical practice in giant cell arteritis, proposing new treatments and a method to measure genetic predisposition to this vasculitis