D.C. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi/ NLJ

Collegiality may be be in short supply on Capitol Hill right now, but within the geographically and ideologically diverse federal courts of appeals, the trait is more the rule than the exception, according to Senior Judge Harry Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Edwards, preparing for a conference earlier this year at Oxford University, researched how federal appellate courts seek and achieve collegiality. He collected and analyzed data on case workload, opinions and the results of a survey he sent to the chief judges of the federal appeals courts. His review was published online this month.

Edwards said he's long been interested in collegiality. When he joined the D.C. Circuit in 1980, he recalled in an interview this week, his court was “so fractured” and he knew “there had to be a better way.” To that end, the court initiated rules and strategies to encourage collegial decision making.