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How Public Opinion Constrains the U.S. Supreme Court

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  • Christopher J. Casillas
  • Peter K. Enns
  • Patrick C. Wohlfarth

Abstract

Although scholars increasingly acknowledge a contemporaneous relationship between public opinion and Supreme Court decisions, debate continues as to why this relationship exists. Does public opinion directly influence decisions or do justices simply respond to the same social forces that simultaneously shape the public mood? To answer this question, we first develop a strategy to control for the justices' attitudinal change that stems from the social forces that influence public opinion. We then propose a theoretical argument that predicts strategic justices should be mindful of public opinion even in cases when the public is unlikely to be aware of the Court's activities. The results suggest that the influence of public opinion on Supreme Court decisions is real, substantively important, and most pronounced in nonsalient cases.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher J. Casillas & Peter K. Enns & Patrick C. Wohlfarth, 2011. "How Public Opinion Constrains the U.S. Supreme Court," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(1), pages 74-88, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:55:y:2011:i:1:p:74-88
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5907.2010.00485.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Christopher J Williams & Shaun Bevan, 2019. "The effect of public attitudes toward the European Union on European Commission policy activity," European Union Politics, , vol. 20(4), pages 608-628, December.
    2. Plouffe, Michael, 2024. "The Public and the Assembly: Foreign Public Opinion and Voting in the UNGA," OSF Preprints pu2yv, Center for Open Science.
    3. Andrew Smith & Graham Brownlow, 2023. "Informal Institutions as Inhibitors of Rent-Seeking Entrepreneurship: Evidence From U.S. Legal History," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(6), pages 2323-2346, November.
    4. Christopher J Williams, 2016. "Issuing reasoned opinions: The effect of public attitudes towards the European Union on the usage of the 'Early Warning System'," European Union Politics, , vol. 17(3), pages 504-521, September.
    5. Jaroslaw Kantorowicz, 2014. "Judges as Fiscal Activists: Can Constitutional Review Shape Public Finance?," DANUBE: Law and Economics Review, European Association Comenius - EACO, issue 2, pages 79-104, June.
    6. James R. Rogers & Joseph Daniel Ura, 2020. "A majoritarian basis for judicial countermajoritarianism," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 32(3), pages 435-459, July.
    7. Aziz Z. Huq, 2022. "The Supreme Court and the Dynamics of Democratic Backsliding," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 699(1), pages 50-65, January.

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