No, it absolutely was not an attempt to influence judicial outcomes. It was a test to see whether publishing accurate analysis of precedential cases would cause those cases to be cited more than they otherwise would. Not only is there no harm in doing so (since the information is accurate), neither you nor the researchers can know whether any case outcomes were influenced. And, in fact, the analysis of the paper, which says that the cases were cited more often when the citing judge agreed with the conclusion of the case, which, if anything, suggests that the outcomes of these cases were most likely not affected.

Moreover, if you want to claim this study was unethical, you need to show that there at least could have potentially been harm as a result of it being carried out. Please explain how publishing correct legal analysis of cases anywhere could possibly cause harm.

In short, if you want to make this claim, you need to provide actual evidence, and not just outrage.