Comparison with the effects of party differences on congressional voting suggests that party-related liberalism or conservatism on the federal district courts may vary over time. The proposition that partisan differences in district courts will increase during periods of Supreme Court ambiguity is tested by correlating party preference to civil liberalism for each year from 1960 to 1976. The finding that party effects increased dramatically after 1968 offers some support for the ambiguity proposition. However, the pattern of increased party-related differences suggests that these differences may also be influenced by issue evolution and by change in presidential party. Future research is needed to clarify the relative effects of presidential party change, issue evolution, and Supreme Court ambiguity on the expression of federal district judges' partisan differences.
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Rowland et al. (1980) studied this question.
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