New measures of judges' caseload for the Federal District Courts, 1964-2012

Habel, P. and Scott, K. (2014) New measures of judges' caseload for the Federal District Courts, 1964-2012. Journal of Law and Courts, 2(1), pp. 153-170. (doi: 10.1086/67066)

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Abstract

Over the past 30 years many observers of the federal courts have expressed concern over mounting dockets, arguing that the taxing workloads for federal judges could have a variety of negative consequences, including difficulties in judicial recruitment and retention. However, assessing the plausibility of those and similar claims requires the use of appropriate measures of judges’ workload. We introduce scholars and practitioners to new measures of caseload for the district courts available from 1964 through 2012. We detail the methodology for constructing our measures and then assess changes in caseload over time, both within and across courts. We argue that, in most cases, the preferred measure of caseload incorporates weighted filings and accounts for the service of senior status judges and vacancies. We conclude by pointing scholars toward additional research avenues that can be undertaken with our publicly available data.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Habel, Dr Philip
Authors: Habel, P., and Scott, K.
College/School:College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
Journal Name:Journal of Law and Courts
Publisher:University of Chicago Press
ISSN:2164-6570
ISSN (Online):2164-6589

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