The Supreme Court and the Attitudinal Model Revisited

by Jeffrey A. Segal , Harold J. Spaeth

• ISBN13: 9780521789714
• ISBN10: 0521789710
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-09-16
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book, authored by two leading scholars of the Supreme Court and its policy making, systematically presents and validates the use of the attitudinal model to explain and predict Supreme Court decision making. In the process, it critiques the two major alternative models of Supreme Court decision making and their major variants: the legal and rational choice. Using the US Supreme Court Data Base, the justices' private papers, and other sources of information, the book analyzes the appointment process, certiorari, the decision on the merits, opinion assignments, and the formation of opinion coalitions. The book will be the definitive presentation of the attitudinal model as well as an authoritative critique of the legal and rational choice models. The book thoroughly reflects research done since the 1993 publication of its predecessor, as well as decisions and developments in the Supreme Court, including the momentous decision of Bush v. Gore.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	xi
List of Tables	xii
Preface	xv
Introduction: Supreme Court Policy Making	1	(43)
What Courts Do	3	(9)
Judges as Policy Makers	6	(6)
Reasons for Judicial Policy Making	12	(15)
Fundamental Law	12	(2)
Distrust of Governmental Power	14	(2)
Federalism	16	(2)
Separation of Powers	18	(2)
Judicial Review	20	(6)
The Mythology of Judging	26	(1)
The Federal and State Judicial Systems	27	(15)
National Supremacy	28	(3)
The System of Comity	31	(1)
Sovereign Immunity	32	(4)
The Full Faith and Credit Clause	36	(2)
Adequate and Independent State Grounds for Decision	38	(2)
Choice of Law	40	(1)
Summary	41	(1)
Conclusions	42	(2)
Models of Decision Making: The Legal Model	44	(42)
About Models	44	(4)
The Legal Model	48	(38)
Plain Meaning	53	(7)
Legislative and Framers' Intent	60	(16)
Precedent	76	(10)
Models of Decision Making: The Attitudinal and Rational Choice Models	86	(29)
The Attitudinal Model	86	(11)
The Legal Realists	87	(1)
The Behavioralists	88	(1)
The Psychological Influence	89	(3)
The Economics Influence	92	(5)
The Rational Choice Model	97	(13)
The Supreme Court and Rational Choice Theory	100	(3)
The Marksist Separation-of-Powers Model	103	(7)
Summary and Conclusions	110	(5)
A Political History of the Supreme Court	115	(63)
The First Supreme Court	115	(2)
The Marshall Court	117	(6)
Judicial Supremacy	118	(1)
National Supremacy	118	(2)
Federal Power Vis-a-Vis That of the States	120	(3)
The Civil War Era	123	(4)
The Taney Court	123	(1)
The Case of Scott v. Sandford	124	(3)
Reconstruction	127	(2)
Military Justice	127	(1)
Civil Rights	128	(1)
Fighting the Welfare State	129	(12)
Taxation	130	(1)
Interstate Commerce and Other National Powers	131	(4)
Freedom of Contract	135	(4)
The Court-Packing Plan	139	(2)
The Civil Liberties Agenda	141	(24)
The Preferred Freedoms Doctrine	141	(2)
Incorporation of the Bill of Rights	143	(2)
First Amendment Freedoms	145	(5)
Criminal Procedure	150	(5)
Equal Protection	155	(4)
Reapportionment	159	(2)
The Right to Privacy	161	(4)
The Supreme Court and the Distribution of Power, 1936--2000	165	(9)
The Curtiss-Wright Case	165	(1)
The Japanese Internment Cases	166	(1)
The Steel Seizure Case	167	(1)
The Watergate Tapes Case	168	(1)
The Legislative Veto Case	169	(1)
The Distribution of Power at the Millennium	170	(4)
Summary and Conclusions	174	(4)
Staffing the Court	178	(45)
Presidential Selection	179	(7)
Factors Affecting Nomination	180	(6)
Senate Confirmation	186	(31)
The Case Studies	189	(11)
An Aggregate Analysis	200	(3)
An Individual-Level Analysis	203	(14)
Presidential Influence	217	(5)
Summary and Conclusions	222	(1)
Getting into Court	223	(56)
Legal Requirements	224	(16)
Jurisdiction	224	(6)
Standing to Sue	230	(8)
Jurisdiction over the Parties	238	(2)
Case Selection	240	(9)
Procedure	241	(3)
Criteria for Selection	244	(3)
Effects of Denial or Dismissal	247	(2)
The Supreme Court's Caseload	249	(3)
Which Cases for Decision	252	(20)
Individual-Level Models	252	(10)
Aggregate-Level Models	262	(10)
Future Changes	272	(4)
Summary and Conclusions	276	(3)
The Decision on the Merits: The Legal Model	279	(33)
Process	279	(5)
Oral Argument	280	(1)
The Conference	281	(3)
The Conference Vote on the Merits	284	(3)
Fluidity and the Attitudinal Model	285	(2)
The Report (or Final) Vote on the Merits	287	(23)
Stare Decisis	288	(22)
Text and Intent	310	(1)
Summary	310	(2)
The Decision on the Merits: The Attitudinal and Rational Choice Models	312	(45)
The Attitudinal Model	312	(14)
Facts	312	(8)
Attitudes	320	(6)
The Separation-of-Powers Model	326	(23)
Qualitative Analyses and Case Studies	327	(4)
Quantitative Analyses	331	(10)
Reexamining the Separation-of-Powers Model	341	(8)
Conclusions	349	(2)
Appendix 8.1: Deriving the Set of Irreversible Decisions	351	(6)
The Basic Model	351	(1)
The Extended Model	352	(2)
Application	354	(3)
Opinion Assignment and Opinion Coalitions	357	(49)
Opinion Assignments	358	(23)
Assignment Patterns	362	(5)
Equality	367	(5)
Ideology	372	(4)
Complicating Factors	376	(1)
Important Cases	377	(1)
Issue Specialization	378	(3)
Opinion Assignments and Opinion Coalitions	381	(2)
Opinion Coalitions	383	(4)
Voting and Opinion Options	383	(4)
The Politics of Coalition Formation	387	(7)
Special Concurrences	388	(2)
Opinion Assignees	390	(2)
Opinion Assigners	392	(2)
Patterns of Interagreement	394	(9)
Who ``Influences'' Whom?	399	(4)
Summary and Conclusions	403	(3)
The Supreme Court and Constitutional Democracy	406	(24)
Support for the Solicitor General	411	(1)
Declarations of Unconstitutionality	412	(4)
Federal Administrative Agencies	416	(4)
Considerations of Economic Federalism	420	(2)
Civil Liberties	422	(2)
Public Opinion	424	(4)
Conclusion	428	(2)
Conclusion	430	(6)
Case Index	436	(8)
General Index	444