Gendered Justice: Do Male and Female Justices Rule Differently on Questions of Gay Rights?

Abstract

After reviewing 424 legal conclusions by 244 judges, this piece concludes that there are statistically significant differences between how men and women rule on questions of gay rights, with women being more likely to rule in favor of gays and lesbians on their due process and equal protection claims. This project controls for political party, age, decision year, and region - among other variables.

To explain the source of the judicial gender gap, this piece then marshals General Social Survey Data, congressional voting records, and law school student surveys. It concludes by assessing the implications of the trend and exploring whether it is likely to persist.

Keywords: gay rights, women, men, gender, gay marriage, gender, jurisprudence, privacy rights, equal protection, due process, quantitative, statistics, multivariate regression

JEL Classification: C30, C31, C20, C21