Voting patterns in en banc cases

Assuming the confirmation of Hon. Sul Ozerden of Mississippi, all active-judge positions on the Fifth Circuit will soon be filled. Of the 17 judges, 12 will have been appointed by Republican Presidents (6 by President Trump), and 5 by Democrats. 8 of the 17 judges will have previously served, for some amount of time, as a state or federal trial judge.

En banc votes by the Court, examined with an eye on the political party of the appointing Presidents, can show patterns. For example, in this week’s Cole v. Carson case, the Democrat-appointed judges voted the same way while the Republican-appointed judges divided. (If these slides are hard to read on your browser, clicking on them should bring them to full size and clear resolution):

All former trial judges voted the same way:

Similarly, in the 2017 case of Jauch v. Choctaw County about pretrial detention, all the Court’s Democrat-appointed judges voted against en banc review, while the Republican-appointed ones divided:

And again, all of the Court’s former trial judges voted the same way:

There are many ways to define, characterize, and otherwise describe judges and their philosophies. This quick review suggests that an exclusive focus on political-party association is too narrow.