How Judges React to Defeats?

Abstract

How do minority judges react to defeats? Do the judges maintain their initial understandings, despite being defeated by the majority or do the judges sometimes defer to the majority, giving up their initial decisions, in order to maximize certain objectives? From an original database containing a sample of judgments from the São Paulo Court of Justice and the Rio Grande do Sul Court of Justice, it was observed that of the 30 judges analyzed, 24 departed from their initial position in at least one decision and that of the 233 votes counted, 86 were deferential. In addition, based on a logistic regression model, three factors were identified that contribute to an increase in the likelihood of the judge defer to majority, moving away from his initial position: 1) stable majority oppositions; 2) assume the role of vowel in the trial (vs. rapporteur); and 3) enter the court through career promotion (vs. Quinto Constitucional).