A judge’s self-interest in avoiding admitted error shapes legal rulings

Evidence

Conway thought that Keating’s brief might well persuade Judge Skinner to order a new trial. Schlichtmann thought this was unlikely. If Skinner did so, he would in effect be admitting that his own questions had been hopelessly confusing and that they had just wasted five months of trial. — Jonathan Harr, A Civil Action, 2732

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Jonathan Harr, A Civil Action, 2732
• XREF: connects to: Judicial decisions are governed by beliefs about facts and rules — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 160; Courts sometimes reach wrong outcomes to avoid bad future rules — Frederick Schauer, Thinking Like a Lawyer, 548; Precedent obliges judges to follow cases they believe were wrongly decided. — Frederick Schauer, Thinking Like a Lawyer, 69 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Litigated cases self-select to those where both sides have plausible legal arguments #expands (0.45) — Frederick Schauer, Thinking Like a Lawyer, 253