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One Bad Apple Spoils the Bunch: Kavanaugh and Change in Institutional Support for the Supreme Court

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  • Nathan T. Carrington
  • Colin French

Abstract

Objective We analyze the extent to which, if any, institutional support of the U.S. Supreme Court was influenced by the confirmation hearings of Brett Kavanaugh. Methods We use a nationally representative survey supplemented with an online survey experiment using a hypothetical nominee both conducted shortly after the Senate confirmed Kavanaugh to the bench. Results We find a strong relationship between negative feelings toward Kavanaugh and support for reform of the Court and confirm the direction of this relationship in the subsequent experiment. Conclusion In contrast to Krewson and Schroedel, our findings show that appointing a nominee who behaves in an overtly political manner during their confirmation hearings can significantly and meaningfully affect the institutional support afforded to the nation's highest court.

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  • Nathan T. Carrington & Colin French, 2021. "One Bad Apple Spoils the Bunch: Kavanaugh and Change in Institutional Support for the Supreme Court," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(4), pages 1484-1495, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:102:y:2021:i:4:p:1484-1495
    DOI: 10.1111/ssqu.12983
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. James L. Gibson & Gregory A. Caldeira & Lester Kenyatta Spence, 2003. "Measuring Attitudes toward the United States Supreme Court," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 47(2), pages 354-367, April.
    2. James L. Gibson & Michael J. Nelson, 2015. "Is the U.S. Supreme Court's Legitimacy Grounded in Performance Satisfaction and Ideology?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 59(1), pages 162-174, January.
    3. Alex Badas, 2019. "The Applied Legitimacy Index: A New Approach to Measuring Judicial Legitimacy," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 100(5), pages 1848-1861, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. L. J. Zigerell, 2022. "Did Brett Kavanaugh's overt partisanship cause severe harm to the legitimacy of the U.S. Supreme Court?," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 103(4), pages 789-793, July.
    2. Nathan T. Carrington & Logan Strother, 2023. "Plugging the pipe? Evaluating the (null) effects of leaks on Supreme Court legitimacy," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(3), pages 669-712, September.
    3. Christopher N. Krewson & Jean R. Schroedel, 2023. "Modern judicial confirmation hearings and institutional support for the Supreme Court," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 104(3), pages 364-369, May.
    4. Nathan T. Carrington & Colin French, 2022. "Mechanisms, measurements, and manifestations in evaluating the effects of confirmation hearings on Supreme Court legitimacy," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 103(5), pages 1290-1294, September.

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