Are panels really random?

A new article challenges the widespread assumption that appellate panels are random, exploring panel assignments in the United States Courts of Appeals for the D.C., 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th Circuits: See Levy, Marin K., Panel Assignment in the Federal Courts of Appeals (Nov. 25, 2017) 103 Cornell Law Review 65 (2017). The author explains:

Drawing on a multiyear qualitative study of five circuit courts, including in depth interviews with thirty-five judges and senior administrators, I show that strictly random selection is a myth, and an improbable one at that—in many instances, it would have been impossible as a practical matter for the courts studied here to create their panels by random draw. Although the courts generally tried to “mix up” the judges, the chief judges and clerks responsible for setting the calendar also took into account various other factors, from collegiality to efficiency-based considerations. Notably, those factors differed from one court to the next; no two courts approached the challenge of panel assignment in precisely the same way.