UNDERSTANDING JUDICIAL DECISION MAKING IN IMMIGRATION CASES AT THE US COURTS OF APPEALS

Immigration is an increasingly important area of decision making for federal judges. The recent increase in appeals of immigration cases to the courts of appeals raises the question whether judges deciding these cases behave in ways consistent with the extant attitudinal literature or if other factors, such as case characteristics and institutional concerns, weigh more heavily on the decision making of judges. It is possible, for example, that the country of origin for the alien, or the panel on which a judge serves, also influences decision making. Using an original data set of immigration cases drawn from the Third, Fifth, and Ninth circuits, this article presents models that examine whether and how ideology influences the decision making of courts of appeals judges in immigration-removal cases, given other case and institutional factors that might temper the effects of ideology.