zlacker

The Federal judges who apply the Sentencing Guidelines all "hold their Offices during good Behavior", so I kind of wonder what you mean by "career suicide" -- a reduced likelihood of elevation to a higher court?

>>schoen+(OP)
Yeah. Also, judges are not very well paid so some of them work with the anticipation of returning to the private sector later on. IF they developed a reputation for having decisions overturned by appeal courts, that wouldn't serve them well in their private career. Although the ideal judge would be utterly impartial, in the real world judges are human and still subject to economic incentives, herding behavior and so on. Richard Posner (arguably America's most influential living legal scholar/jurist) has written extensively on this topic (as well as just about every other topic).