Monday, August 04, 2008

How Courts Impact Federal Administrative Behavior. 2009. New York, NY: Routledge.

What impact do federal courts have on the administrative agencies of the federal government? How do agencies react to the decisions of federal courts? My book takes up these questions by examining the responses of federal agencies to the U.S. Courts of Appeals, revealing what happens inside agencies after courts rule against them. I use an original database to examine whether judicial opinions systematically influence administrative behavior, including whether agencies file certiorari petitions following adverse decisions, the amount of policy change they enact and the timing of their responses, and whether administrators cite circuit court decisions as precedent in subsequent proceedings. I also draw upon dozens of interviews with current and former administrators, taking readers behind the scenes of these organizations to reveal their internal procedures, their attitudes about courts, and their capacity to be influenced by a judge’s choice of words.

No comments: