Elected Judges Favor People Who Voted Them into Office

ELECTED JUDGES FAVOR PEOPLE WHO VOTED THEM INTO OFFICE

MUNCIE, Ind. -- When it comes to court decisions, elected judges are more likely to rule in favor of the people who voted them into office, says a Ball State University researcher.

An analysis of over 7,000 trials found that in states that select their judges in partisan elections, awards against out-of-state corporate defendants are much higher than against in-state defendants.

"Politicians are not neutral maximizers of the public good, they respond to incentives just like other individuals," said Alexander Tabarrok, an economics professor. "When we apply the same reasoning to those politicians in robes called judges, we find that elected judges, particularly partisan elected judges, have an incentive to redistribute wealth from out-of-state defendants, who are non-voters to in-state plaintiffs, or the voters."

When the defendant is located out-of-state and the plaintiff in-state, elected judges have an incentive to rule in favor of the plaintiff because the plaintiff is a voter and the defendant is not, he said.

"We also found that when the defendant is an out-of-state corporation and the plaintiff is in-state, awards are hundreds of thousands of dollars higher in partisan elected states," Tabarrok said.

Further research suggests that awards are higher in partisan states because partisan elected judges decide cases differently, not because the law is different in partisan elected states.

In cases involving citizens of different states, also known as diversity of citizenship cases, federal judges apply state law to decide disputes. Diversity of citizenship cases allowed the researchers to test whether differences in awards are caused by differences in electoral systems or differences in state law. Tabarrok found there is bias against out-of-state corporations only when partisan elected judges decide cases. When federal judges decide cases there is no bias, even though in diversity of citizenship cases they must apply state law.

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Tabarrok at [email protected] or (765) 285-5370.

For more stories visit the Ball State University News Center at www.bsu.edu/news on the World Wide Web) Marc Ransford 4/29/99