Synopses & Reviews
For decades political scientists studying the Court have adopted behavioral approaches and focused on the relatively narrow question of how the justices' policy preferences influence their voting behavior. This emphasis has illuminated important aspects of Supreme Court politics, but it has also left unaddressed many other important questions about this unique and fascinating institution.
Drawing on "the new institutionalism" in the social sciences, the distinguished contributors to this volume attempt to fill this gap by exploring a variety of topics, including the Court's institutional development and its relationship to broader political contexts such as party regimes, electoral systems, social movements, social change, legal precedents, political identities, and historically evolving economic structures.
The book's initial chapters examine the nature of the Court's distinctive norms as well as the development of its institutional powers and practice. A second section relates the development of Supreme Court politics to the historical development of other political institutions and social movements. Concluding chapters explore how its decision making in particular areas of law or periods of time is influenced by—and influences—its socio-political milieu.
These contributions offer provocative insights regarding the Court's role in maintaining or disrupting political and economic structures, as well as social structures and identities tied to ideology, class, race, gender, and sexual orientation. The Supreme Court in American Politics shows how we can develop an enriched understanding of this institution, and open up exciting new areas of research by placing it in the broader context of politics in the United States.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 257-280) and index.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
I. Introduction, Cornell Clayton and Howard Gillman
Part I: Legal Norms and the Historical Development of Supreme Court Politics
2. The Constitution of the Supreme Court, John Brigham
3. The Problematic Establishment of Judicial Review, Mark A. Graber
4. Institutional Norms and the Historical Development of Supreme Court Politics: Changing "Social Facts" and Doctrinal Development, Ronald Kahn
Part II: The Supreme Court in Political Context
5. How the Supreme Court Matters in American Politics: New Institutionalist Perspectives, Michael McCann
6. The Supreme Court and Partisan Change: Contravening, Provoking, and Diffusing Partisan Conflict, John B. Gates
7. The Supreme Court Bar and Institutional Relationships, Kevin T. McGuire
8. Bill Clinton's Excellent Adventure: Political Development and the Modern Confirmation Process, Mark Silverstein
Part III: Supreme Court Agenda Setting and Decision Making in Context
9. Law, Politics, and the Rehnquist Court: Structural Influences on Supreme Court Decision Making, Cornell Clayton
10. Supreme Court Agenda Setting in Gender Equity Cases, 1970-1994, Leslie Friedman
11. Queer New Institutionalism: Notes on the Naked Power Organ in Mainstream Constitutional Theory and Law, Susan Burgess
12. Democratic Theory and Race-Conscious Redistricting: The Supreme Court Constructs the American Voter, Keith J. Bybee
13. Reconnecting the Modern Supreme Court to the Historical Evolution of American Capitalism, Howard Gillman
Bibliography
List of Cases Cited
List of Contributors
Index