Electing Judges

by Gibson, James L.

• ISBN13: 9780226291086
• ISBN10: 0226291081
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-09-20
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

In Electing Judges,leading judicial politics scholar James L. Gibson responds tothe growing chorus of critics who fear that the politics of running for office undermine judicial independence and even the rule of law. While many people have opinions on the topic, few have supported them with actual empirical evidence. Gibson rectifies this situation, offering the most systematic and comprehensive study to date of the impact of campaigns on public perceptions of fairness, impartiality, and the legitimacy of elected state courts-and his findings are both counterintuitive and controversial. Gibson finds that ordinary Americans do not conclude from campaign promises that judges are incapable of making impartial decisions. Instead, he shows, they understand the process of deciding cases to be an exercise in policy making, rather than of simply applying laws to individual cases-and consequently think it's important for candidates to reveal where they stand on important issues. Negative advertising also turns out to have a limited effect on perceptions of judicial legitimacy, though the same cannot be said for widely hated campaign contributions. Taking both the good and bad into consideration, Gibson argues persuasively that elections are ultimately beneficial in boosting the institutional legitimacy of courts, despite the slight negative effects of some campaign activities. Electing Judgeswill initiate a lively debate inside both the halls of justice and the academy.

Author Biography

James L Gibson is the Sidney W. Souers Professor of Government at Washington University in St. Louis and Professor Extraordinary in Political Science at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments	p. ix
The "New Style" Judicial Elections in the American States	p. 1
Republican Party of Minnesota v. White and Perceptions of Judicial Impartiality	p. 23
Can Campaign Activity Cross the Line?	p. 57
Diffuse Support for a State Supreme Court: Judicial Legitimacy in Kentucky	p. 70
Expectancy Theory and Judicial Legitimacy	p. 87
Judges, Elections, and the American Mass Public: The Effects of Judicial Campaigns on the Legitimacy of Courts	p. 105
Judicial Campaigns, Elections for Judges, and Court Legitimacy: Do Judicial Elections Really Stink?	p. 129
Legal Developments Post- White	p. 143
The Surveys	p. 146
Experimental Vignettes	p. 149
Question Wording	p. 168
The Distributions of Key Analytical Variables	p. 171
Interactive Analysis	p. 172
Measuring Support for Democratic Institutions and Processes	p. 173
Question Wording	p. 175
Adding Control Variables	p. 180
Notes	p. 183
References	p. 207
Index	p. 219
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