FRESHMAN EFFECTS FOR SUPREME-COURT-JUSTICES

Over the years, there has been substantial interest in whether new Sup reme Court justices experience what have been known as ''freshman effe cts.'' The results of several studies examining various aspects of the effects are, at best, mixed. I offer four reasons for these mixed res ults. First, most previous studies test the new justice's behavior aga inst that of the other justices, rather than his or her own later beha vior. Second, many previous studies focus on opinion writing rather th an voting behavior. Third, most previous studies have not considered p ossible differences from one issue area to another. Fourth, previous s tudies did not control for the direction of the lower court decision. After establishing that some justices do experience these effects, I e xamine possible explanations as to why some justices experience them a nd others do not.