CHARTING THE INFLUENCES ON THE JUDICIAL MIND - AN EMPIRICAL-STUDY OF JUDICIAL REASONING

In 1988, hundreds of federal district judges were suddenly confronted with the need to render a decision on the constitutionality of the Sen tencing Reform Act and the newly promulgated criminal Sentencing Guide lines. Never before has a question of such importance and involving su ch significant issues of constitutional law mandated the immediate and simultaneous attention of such a large segment of the federal trial b ench. Accordingly, this event provides an archetypal model for explori ng the influence of social background, ideology, judicial role and ins titution, and other factors on judicial decisionmaking. Based upon a u nique set of written decisions involving an identical legal problem, t he authors have produced an unprecedented empirical study of judicial reasoning in action. By exploiting this treasure trove of data, the au thors have looked deeper into the judicial mind and observed the emerg ence of influences upon the manner in which a judge examined the const itutional issues, adopted a constitutional theory, and engaged in lega l reasoning.