Judges, Judges, Judges

Around the U.S., High Courts Follow California’s Lead

The California Supreme Court is the most influential state court in the nation.

That’s not just talk. The numbers back it up.

A new study counted up the number of times the decisions of state high courts were followed in other states — in other words, how often one state’s decision played a direct role in shaping a decision elsewhere. That sort of citation analysis is a common measure of influence, and there is a cottage industry of rankings for judges, law professors, law reviews, law faculties and the like.

According to the study, published in December in the University of California, Davis, Law Review, the California Supreme Court won by a landslide.

We don't usually talk about the Governor's seat as crucial in this area of policy, but appointing Supreme Court judges appears to be very important, maybe not as much as a President appointing Supreme Court judges but important nonetheless. It'd be good to see this identified as an issue area in 2010.