This project examines the career path of judicial elites in Australia. Australian High Court Justices, are powerful, yet understudied political elites. Justices are able to declare laws unconstitutional, reverse and/or reinforce controversial policy. There is a substantial literature about the selection of justices, yet little attention is paid to judicial tenureship and resignation. This project contributes to filling in this gap.
Given the prestige and job security attached to the position of High Court Justices, it is puzzling that these elites choose to vacate their seats on a voluntary basis. Given the literature surrounding judicial selection, one reasonably assumes that we should know why justices choose to leave the bench, and under what circumstances this most often occurs. Yet, the traditional principal-agent relationship that inform most discussions on elected political elites, may not apply to unelected and unremovable judicial elites.
This research project explores the phenomena of judicial appointment and turnover through the use of sequence analysis. Originally developed for DNA research, sequence analysis has attracted increased attention in the social sciences for the analysis of longitudinal data. The proposed project focuses on the order, and duration, of pre-High Court careers (e.g. private practice, government lawyer, non-legal job, lower-level court judge), and how these early career paths are related to different kinds of High Court resignations. Put another way, are there sequences of pre-High Court career paths that help predict an early exit from the bench?
High Court judges are ideal candidates to subject to sequence analysis, because they are highly visible public figures whose pre-High Court careers are heavily scrutinized, publicized and recorded as part of their appointment process. Consequently, the majority of their biographical and career data is easily accessible. Moreover, because their numbers are limited, there are less heavy computational demands required to conduct the sequence analysis.
