Kaleigh Ruiz

JD, PhD Candidate

Gendered Interruption Behavior on the U.S. Courts of Appeals


(Job Market Paper)


This Article analyzes gender differences in interruption behavior during oral argument, using a novel dataset of 132 transcripts on the U.S. Courts of Appeals. I find evidence that, although women and men judges interrupt other speakers at similar rates, women tend to use a higher percentage of positive interruptions whereas men employ a higher proportion of negative interruptions. I also find that women judges tend to apologize at higher rates when interrupting, especially when they interrupt peer judges. A similar trend exists among men and women attorneys.
A version of this paper has been accepted for presentation at 2025 annual meeting for APSA in September.