Susan B. Haire

• PhD., University of South Carolina, Political Science, 1993
• MPA., University of West Florida, 1985
• BA, University of Georgia, Political Science, 1982

Haire has received  three grants from the National Science Foundation for her research on federal courts.  With Laura Moyer, Haire is the author of “Diversity Matters: Judicial Policy Making on the U.S. Courts of Appeals” (University of Virginia Press, 2015).  In 2000, Haire, along with Donald Songer and Reggie Sheehan published Continuity and Change on the United States Courts of Appeals (University of Michigan).  She has published works in a variety of social science and law journals, including the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Journal of Law and Courts, Judicature, and Law and Society Review.

In 2007, Haire was appointed to a two-year term as the Law and Social Science Program Director for the National Science Foundation.  She also taught in UGA’s Washington Semester program from 2008 through 2011.  Haire has directed nine dissertations; her students have gone on to faculty positions at the University of Vermont, Utah University, University of Louisville, Catawba College, Kennesaw State and Western Carolina University.

• Judicial politics
• Lower federal courts

• Past President, Southern Political Science Association.
• Recipient of APSA’s Frank Goodnow Award for distinguished service to the discipline, 2022.
• Received APSA’s Law and Courts Section Teaching and Mentoring Award, 2016
• Recipient of the Erika Fairchild Award, presented at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association in New Orleans, LA.
• Recipient of the J. Hatten Howard Award (1998) for honors instructors who show promise in their early careers as teachers
• Edward C. Corwin Award (co-winner 1994) for best doctoral dissertation in the field of public law (sponsored by the APSA)
• Program director, National Science Foundation, Law and Science Program, 2007-2009
• Collaborative research: Judicial Diversity and Appellate Decision Making. $35,107 from the National Science Foundation, Law and Social Science Program. 2017. Award no. 1654697. (co-PIs Laura Moyer, University of Louisville, John Szmer, UNC-Charlotte, Rob Christensen, BYU, total project award: $280,326 ) $2,500 REU Supplement, 2018.
• Collaborative research: Extending the Multi-User Database of decisions of the U.S. Courts of Appeals.  Awarded $115,632 from the National Science Foundation, Law and Social Science Program, 2003-2005 (co-PI Ashlyn Kuersten, Western Michigan University).
• Appellate Advocacy and Judicial Decision Making in the U.S. Courts of Appeals, awarded $49,655 from the National Science Foundation, Law and Social Science Program, 1999-2001.
• Integrating Models of Appellate Court Decision Making, awarded $5,698 from the Faculty Research Grants Program (funded by the University of Georgia Research Foundation), 1996.
• Selected UGA Women’s Leadership Fellow, 2021

• Southern Political Science Association (SPSA) leadership:

Program Chair, 2021. Member, leadership team: Vice President-elect (2019), Vice President (2020), President-elect, President, Past-President (exp: 2023-2025)

•  Research: Judicial Decision Making; Lower Federal Courts

Books

Susan B. Haire and Laura P. Moyer. 2015. Diversity Matters: Judicial Policymaking on the U.S. Courts of Appeals.  Charlottesville, VA:  University of Virginia Press.

Donald R. Songer, Reginald S. Sheehan, Susan B. Haire. 2000. Continuity and Change on the United States Courts of Appeals. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Refereed Journals

Laura Moyer and Susan Haire. 2015. “Trailblazers and Those That Followed: Personal Experiences, Gender, and Judicial Empathy.” Law and Society Review 3:665-690.

Susan Haire, Barry Edwards, and David Hughes. 2013. “The Voting Behavior of Obama’s Appointees.” Judicature.

Susan Haire, Laura Moyer, and Shawn Treier. 2013.  “Crafting Law on the US Courts of Appeals: Does Diversity Make a Difference?” Journal of Law and Courts 1:303.

Laura Moyer, Todd Collins, and Susan Haire. 2013. “The Value of Precedent: Appellate Briefs and Judicial Opinions in the U.S. Courts of Appeals” Justice System Journal 34: 62.

Lisa Holmes, Rorie Solberg, and Susan Haire. 2012. “Neither Gone nor Forgotten:  The Impact of Senior Status Judges on the U.S. Courts of Appeals.” Judicature 95(5):227-236.

Erin Kaheny, Susan Haire, and Sara Benesh. 2008. “Change over Tenure: Voting, Variance, and Decision making on the U.S. Courts of Appeals.”  American Journal of Political Science 52: 490-503.

Stefanie Lindquist, Susan B. Haire, and Donald Songer. 2007. “Supreme Court Auditing of the U.S. Courts of Appeals:  An Organizational Perspective.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 17:607-624.

Rorie Spill-Solberg, Jolly Emrey, and Susan B. Haire. 2006. “Inter-court dynamics and the Development of Legal Policy: Citation Patterns in the Decisions of the U.S. Courts of Appeals.” Policy Studies Journal 34: 277-293.

Susan B. Haire, Stefanie Lindquist, and Donald Songer. 2003. “Appellate Court Supervision in the Federal Judiciary: A Hierarchical Perspective,” Law and Society Review 37: 143-168.

Susan B. Haire, Martha Anne Humphries, and Donald R. Songer. 2001. “ Decision Making by Clinton’s appointees to the U.S. Courts of Appeals.” Judicature 84: 274-281.

Susan B. Haire. 2001. “Rating the ratings of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary.” Justice System Journal 22: 1-17.

Donald R. Songer, Reginald Sheehan, and Susan B. Haire. 1999. “Do the Haves come out ahead over time? Applying Galanter’s Framework to decisions of the U.S. Courts of Appeals, 1925-1988.” Law and Society Review 33.811-832. Reprinted in In Litigation:  Do the ‘Haves’ Still Come out Ahead ed. Herbert M. Kritzer and Susan S. Silbey, Stanford University Press (2003) pp. 85-107

Susan B. Haire, Stefanie Lindquist, and Roger Hartley 1999. “Attorney Expertise, Litigant Success, and Judicial Decision Making in the U.S. Courts of Appeals.” Law and Society Review 33:667-685.

Susan Haire and Stefanie Lindquist. 1997.”An Agency and Twelve Courts: Social Security Disability Cases in the U.S. Courts of Appeals.” Judicature 80:230-236.

Susan Haire, Gerard S. Gryski, Gary Zuk, and Deborah J. Barrow. 1994. “An Intercircuit Profile of Judges on the U.S. Courts of Appeals.” Judicature 78: 101-103.

Donald R. Songer, Sue Davis, and Susan Haire. 1994. “A Re-Appraisal of Diversification in the Federal Courts: Gender Effects in the Courts of Appeals.” Journal of Politics 56: 425-439. Reprinted in Gendering American Politics ed. Karen O’Connor, Sarah Brewer, and Michael Fisher, Addison Wesley Longman (2005).

Sue Davis, Susan Haire, Donald R. Songer. 1993. “Gender Effects in the Voting of Judges in the United States Courts of Appeals.” Judicature 77: 129-133. Reprinted in Judicial Politics:  Readings from Judicature ed. Elliot Slotnick, CQ Press (2005)

Donald R. Songer and Susan Haire. 1992. “Integrating Alternative Approaches to the Study of Judicial Voting: Obscenity Cases in the U.S. Courts of Appeals.” American Journal of Political Science 36: 963-982

Szmer, John, Laura P. Moyer, Susan Haire & Robert K. Christensen. 2024. “Who Shapes the Law: Gender and Racial Bias in Judicial Citations.” American Political Science Review. 118(2), 1067-1074. doi:10.1017/s0003055423000801

Laura P. Moyer, John Szmer, Susan Haire & Robert K. Christensen. 2021. “‘All Eyes are on You’: Gender, race, and opinion writing on the US Courts of Appeals.” Law and Society Review: 55(3):452-472 doi:10.1111/lasr.12559

Laura P. Moyer, John Szmer, Susan Haire & Robert K. Christensen. 2020. “Diversity, consensus, and decision making: evidence from the U.S. Courts of Appeals” Politics, Groups, and Identities, 8:822-833 doi:10.1080/21565503.2020.1782950

Other Publications

Donald Songer and Susan Haire. Forthcoming. “Access and Intermediate Appellate Courts.” Oxford Handbook on American Judicial Behavior Ed. Lee Epstein and Stefanie Lindquist.

Susan Haire and Laura Moyer. Forthcoming. “Gender and Judging”. Oxford Research Encyclopedia.

Susan Haire. “Relations Among Courts.” 2008. Oxford Handbook of Law and Politics Ed. Keith E. Whittington, R. Daniel Kelemen, and Gregory A. Caldeira.

Erin B. Kaheny, Sara C. Benesh, and Susan B. Haire. 2008. “Career Stage and Decision Making on the Seventh Circuit:  A Comparative Analysis.” Southern Illinois University Law Journal 32: 509-525.

Susan B. Haire and Laura P. Moyer. 2008. “Advocacy through Briefs in the U.S. Courts of Appeals.” Southern Illinois University Law Journal 32: 593-610.

Susan B. Haire. 2006. “Judicial Selection and Decision Making in the Ninth Circuit.” Arizona Law Review 48: 267-285

Stefanie A. Lindquist and Susan B. Haire. 2006.  “Decision Making by an Agent with Multiple Principals: Environmental Policy in the U.S. Courts of Appeals.” in Institutional Games and the U.S. Supreme Court ed. James Rogers, Roy Flemming, and Jon Bond. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press.

Susan Haire.  2002. “South Carolina,” Legal Systems of the World ed. Herbert Kritzer, ABC-CLIO.

Laura P. Moyer, John Szmer, Susan Haire, Robert Christensen. 2025. “Making Their Mark: Women Judges on the U.S. Courts of Appeals”, 16 ConLawNOW 100

Susan Haire, Alyson Hendricks-Benton, and Vanisha Kudumuri. 2024. “Gender and racial influences on judicial decision makring.” Research Handbook on Judicial Politics. Elgar (ed. Michael P. Fix and Matthew Montgomery)

Susan Haire and Laura P. Moyer. 2018-2019. “Gender, Law, and Judging.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics