Decision Making by the Modern Supreme Court

Authors

Richard L. Pacelle Jr., University of Tennessee, KnoxvilleFollow
Brett W. Curry, Georgia Southern UniversityFollow
Bryan Marshall, Miami University - OxfordFollow

Contributors

Georgia Southern faculty member Brett W. Curry co-authored Decision Making by the Modern Supreme Court alongside non-faculty members Richard L. Pacelle Jr. and Bryan Marshall.

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Abstract

There are three general models of Supreme Court decision making: the legal model, the attitudinal model and the strategic model. But each is somewhat incomplete. This book advances an integrated model of Supreme Court decision making that incorporates variables from each of the three models. In examining the modern Supreme Court, since Brown v. Board of Education, the book argues that decisions are a function of the sincere preferences of the justices, the nature of precedent, and the development of the particular issue, as well as separation of powers and the potential constraints posed by the president and Congress. To test this model, the authors examine all full, signed civil liberties and economic cases decisions in the 1953–2000 period. Decision Making by the Modern Supreme Court argues, and the results confirm, that judicial decision making is more nuanced than the attitudinal or legal models have argued in the past.

Publication Date

6-2012

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

ISBN for this edition (13-digit)

9780511843501