Essays on American Courts

Abstract

This dissertation consists of three essays on American courts. The first essay, “Religion and Judging on the Federal Courts of Appeals,” coauthored with Lawrence Liu, examines the influence of religious affiliation on judges’ decisions using a new database of religious liberties cases that we constructed. The second essay, “The Role of Courts in Technology Policy,” investigates the consequences of Supreme Court decisions involving new technologies in an environment where interest groups and Congress make policy after the Court’s decision is handed down. The third essay, “The Fact-Law Distinction,” shows how the procedural rule that appellate courts give more deference to trial courts’ findings of fact than to their conclusions of law affects factfinding and rulemaking in the judicial hierarchy.