Replication Data for: The Aggregate Dynamics of Lower Court Responses to the U.S. Supreme Court

We offer a framework in which the U.S. Supreme Court drives aggregate responses to its decisions by signaling the utility of its precedents to the lower courts. Specifically, we theorize that lower court judges have a greater propensity to rely on a Supreme Court precedent when it is reinforced by one or more summary decisions. Our results demonstrate that the presence of summary decisions significantly increases the frequency with which the lower courts rely on the precedents of the U.S. Supreme Court. We corroborate the causality of these linkages through qualitative analyses, distance matching methods, and simultaneous sensitivity analysis.本研究构建了一套分析框架，其中美国最高法院（U.S. Supreme Court）通过向下级法院传递其先例的效用信号，引导下级法院针对其作出的裁判形成总体回应。具体而言，本研究提出理论假说：当一项最高法院先例获得一项或多项简易裁决（summary decisions）的补强时，下级法院法官援引该先例的倾向会显著增强。研究结果显示，简易裁决的存在显著提升了下级法院援引美国最高法院先例的频次。本研究通过定性分析、距离匹配法（distance matching methods）以及同步敏感性分析，验证了上述关联的因果关系。