AMERICAN POLITICS & PUBLIC POLICY WORKSHOP: Kelly Rader (Yale), “Intercircuit Splits on the Courts of Appeals”

Conflicts between the Courts of Appeals are of central importance to the American judiciary. When circuits split, federal law is applied differently in different parts of the country. It has long been known that the existence of a circuit split is the best predictor of Supreme Court review, but data availability has constrained understanding of circuit splits to this fact. In this paper, we explore the “life cycle” of an intercircuit split. We analyze an original dataset that comprises a sample of conflicts between Courts of Appeals that were born between 2005 and 2013, including both conflicts the Supreme Court resolved and conflicts it has not yet resolved. We show how long a conflict exists before it is resolved and how many go unresolved altogether, which conflicts are resolved soonest, and how a conflict grows across circuits. (A paper will not be circulated for this talk.)

*Note: Kelly Rader is substituting for canceled guest speaker Ryan Owens.

Sponsored jointly by ISPS and the Center for the Study of American Politics.