在台灣民主政治發展過程，儘管司法體系扮演的角色益形重要，然而社會大眾對其信賴程度似乎仍有待提升，受到政治因素影響法官獨立審判的質疑更是時有所聞。舉例來說，對於台灣選舉買票風氣的問題，民間普遍認定的賄選訴訟印象，譬如「法院是國民黨開的」、「一審重判，二審減半，三審不算」、「有關係就沒關係，沒關係就有關係」、「當選過關，落選被關」等，這些調侃性謔語對於司法公信具有相當的損傷。鑑此，作者檢視「政黨」、「司法程序」、「關係背景」、「當選與否」等因素，為何讓社會大眾產生「司法審判容易受到政治因素影響」的負面觀感，而且這些觀感是否成立？迥異於以往學術文獻著重實證量化分析，本文採取質性研究途徑，首先運用文獻分析，以備受社會關注的八件司法賄選審判為研究案例，蒐集賄選判決與新聞資料，探討法院審理令人產生受到政治因素影響的可能原因。其次，透過深度訪談，瞭解八位司法專業人士（包括律師、法官、法學教授、資深司法記者）對於備受社會關注之賄選案件訴訟的觀點，以及對於民間普遍認定負面印象的評價。根據訪談結果初步推論，社會大眾認為賄選判決經常受到政治因素影響的概括印象，乃與司法實際運作有所出入。在結論中，作者摘述本文要點，並詮釋研究意涵。

In the trajectory of Taiwan’s democratization, the judicial system has long been entangled in the political conflict, and the general public does not seem to trust the judiciary to be independent of political influences. Some folk sayings about the courts reveal the negative stereotypes of vote-buying verdicts; for example, “the courts are dominated by the Kuomintang;” “at the first trial a heavy sentence is passed, at the second trial the sentence is halved, and at the third trial the case is quashed;” “those with good social connections won’t have any problem, but those without connections will have big trouble;” and, “those elected will be let off, but those losing the elections will be imprisoned.” This study investigates the impacts of political factors (including partisanship, judicial procedure, sociopolitical connections, and whether a defendant is elected or not) on three levels of court decisions on vote-buying litigation. In a departure from quantitative analyses in the preceding literature, this research employs a qualitative method. The methodology adopted in this study involves two steps. The first approach involves the use of documentary analyses; we intentionally select eight salient vote-buying cases, and review their court verdicts and news reports in order to inquire whether or not the judiciary is politically biased in its judgments. The second method employs face-to-face intensive interviews with eight legal experts (including three lawyers, one judge, three law professors, and one senior legal journalist), and asks the respondents questions designed to evaluate the political influences on vote-buying lawsuits and to assess this negative public impression of judicial verdicts. Contrary to expectations, the interview findings reveal that the effects of political factors have considerably less of an influence than expected on court decisions. In the conclusion, the key findings are reviewed, and suggestions regarding judicial politics are made for future research.