Law, Ideology, and Collegiality: Judicial Behaviour in the Supreme Court of Canada

by Songer, Donald R.; Johnson, Susan W.; Ostberg, C. L.; Wetstein, Matthew E.

• ISBN13: 9780773539297
• ISBN10: 0773539298
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-04-11
• Publisher: McGill Queens Univ Pr

Summary

The authors use confidential interviews with Supreme Court justices, analysis of their rulings from 1970 to 2005, and measures that tap their perceived ideological tendences to provide a critical examination of the ideological roots of judicial decision making, uncovering the complexity of contemporary judicial behaviour. Examining judicial behaviour through the lens of three different research strategies grounded in qualitative and quantitative methodologies, Law, Ideology, and Collegiality presents compelling evidence that political ideology is a key factor in decision making and a prominent source of conflict in the Supreme Court of Canada.

Author Biography

Donald R. Songer, professor of political science at the University of South Carolina, is the author of The Transformation of the Supreme Court of Canada: An Empirical Examination and Continuity and Change on the United States Courts of Appeals. Susan W. Johnson is assistant professor of political science, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. C.L. Ostberg is professor of political science, director of the Legal Scholars Program, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California, and coauthor of Attitudinal Decision Making in the Supreme Court of Canada. Matthew E. Wetstein is dean of Planning, Research, and Institutional Effectiveness, San Joaquin Delta College, Stockton, California, and co-author of Attitudinal Decision Making in the Supreme Court of Canada.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	p. vii
List of Figures	p. ix
List of Cases	p. xi
Introduction	p. 3
The Supreme Court's Evolving Role	p. 15
Theories of Supreme Courts' Decision Making	p. 40
The Process of Decision Making	p. 71
The Dimensionality of Voting	p. 94
Measuring Ideology and Justices' Votes	p. 120
The Socio-political Bases of Attitudinal Voting	p. 135
The Attitudinal Model and the Puzzle of Unanimity	p. 153
Conclusions: Attitudinal Decision Making and the Supreme Court	p. 165
Appendices
Interviews with Justices	p. 177
Factor Analysis of Cases	p. 183
Notes	p. 187
Bibliography	p. 195
Index	p. 213
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