Judicial support of federal agencies: How federal courts of appeals' judges reflect their appointing president

The growth of the federal bench and the role of courts in implementing national public policy make judicial appointments a critical policy tool. Presidential appointees interpret laws and are appointed for life, so the federal bench can be a significant legacy for a President and provides him an opportunity to extend his agenda into areas that he cannot control on his own.;Logistic regression and chi-square were used to determine the odds and probability of U.S. Courts of Appeals' judges, appointed by Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton, decisions to support federal natural resource administrative agencies' management decisions. Results show Carter judges are more likely to support agencies' decisions when the agency's ideology corresponds with their values. Reagan and Bush judges generally exercise judicial restraint and support agencies' decisions. This study also found no significant difference between when judges supported natural resource agencies' management decisions compared to other federal agencies' management decisions.