On Behalf of the Condemned? The Impact of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund on Capital Punishment Decision Making in the U.S. Courts of Appeals

Abstract

There is a rich history of scholarship demonstrating that interest groups have influenced judicial policymaking, but there has not been a system atic test of whether a single group has contributed to case outcomes over an entire policy area while controlling for other elements of judicial deci sion making. Additionally, the degree to which extra-legal factors domi nate a group's ability to influence judicial policy has not been explored sufficiently Finally, there needs to be an empirical test of the extent to which elements of judicial decision making affect an interest group's choice to litigate. This study examines these questions by assessing the NAACP- Legal Defense and Education Fund's (LDF) contribution to the popula tion of 217 capital punishment cases decided in the U.S. Courts of Appeals. This article finds that when considered in light of the judicial decision making context, the LDF is not a significant factor influencing case out comes. Moreover, an interaction model suggests that the LDF's ability to affect case outcomes is controlled largely by extra-legal factors. Finally, there is no evidence that the LDF's decision to litigate follows a pattern based on this judicial decisionmaking context. These findings should prompt future scholars researching a group's litigation campaign to ex amine his/her subject in the framework of the judicial decision-making process instead of in isolation.