With its often vague legal concepts and institutions that operate according to unfamiliar procedures, judicial decision-making is, in many respects, a highly enigmatic process. New Directions in Judicial Politics seeks to demystify the courts, offering students the insights of empirical research to address questions that are of genuine interest to students. In addition to presenting a set of conclusions about the way in which courts operate, this book also provides students with a sense of the craft of political research, illustrating how one can account for a variety of factors that might affect the courts and how they operate. New Directions in Judicial Politics invites critical thinking, not only about the original research presented by some of the most noted scholars in the field, but also about the validity and generalizability of material encountered in a study of judicial politics.