American Public Opinion and the Modern Supreme Court, 1930-2020: A Representative Institution

Thomas R. Marshall

doi:10.5771/9781793623317

Summary

The United States Supreme Court is commonly thought to be an institution far removed from American public opinion. Yet nearly two-thirds of modern Supreme Court decisions reflect popular attitudes. Comparing over 500 Supreme Court decisions with timely nationwide poll questions since the mid-1930s, Thomas R. Marshall shows that most Supreme Court decisions agree with poll majorities or pluralities across time and across issues and often represent Americans’ views to the same degree as federal policymakers. This book looks beyond the litigants, economic interests, social movements, organized interest groups, or units of governments typically involved and instead examines how well the Court or the justices represent Americans’ views. Using nationwide public opinion, broken down by key subgroups, race, gender, education, and party affiliation, better describes exactly whom Supreme Court decisions and the justices’ individual votes best represent. His book will be of interest to scholars in political science, legal studies, history, and sociology.

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Bibliographic data

Edition: 1/2022
Copyright year: 2022
ISBN-Print: 978-1-7936-2330-0
ISBN-Online: 978-1-7936-2331-7
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 192
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
2. List of Figures and Tables No access
3. 1. Figures No access
  2. Tables No access
4. Preface No access
5. List of Abbreviations No access
1. The Plan of This Book No access
2. Notes No access
1. Viewing the Court as a Representative Institution No access
2. Public Opinion on the Court’s Representative Role No access
3. Criticisms of Representative Role No access
4. Conclusion and Discussion No access
5. Notes No access
1. 1. The Historical Method No access
  2. The Case Study Method No access
  3. Comparative Case Studies No access
  4. Experiments No access
  5. The Public Mood No access
2. The Poll-Matching Method No access
3. 1. Data Sources No access
  2. Coding Rules No access
  3. Reweighting Procedures No access
4. Conclusion and Discussion No access
5. Notes No access
1. 1. The State of Public Opinion No access
  2. Unanimity and Close Votes No access
  3. Time and Representation No access
  4. Coincidental Representation No access
  5. Artifacts and Representation No access
2. 1. Poll Correction and the Lower Courts No access
  2. Stare Decisis, Precedents, and Poll Updating No access
3. Poll Correction and Federal, State, and Local Policymakers No access
4. Conclusion and Discussion No access
5. Notes No access
1. Measuring Representative Role No access
2. Comparing the Justices on Representative Role No access
3. Tenure, Replacements, and Representative Role No access
4. Ideology, the Attitudinal Model, and Representative Role No access
5. Who Are the Great and Near-Great Representative Justices? No access
6. The Impact of Highly Representative Justices No access
7. Ideological Balance and Representation No access
8. Conclusion and Discussion No access
9. Notes No access
1. The Modern Court and Group Opinions No access
2. 1. Representation by Race No access
  2. Representation by Political Party No access
  3. Representation by Education No access
  4. Representation by Gender No access
3. Symbolic Representation and the Modern Court No access
4. Conclusion and Discussion No access
5. Notes No access
1. Being a Representative Institution No access
2. How Americans Perceive the Court No access
3. Reform Proposals and the Court as a Representative Institution No access
4. Notes No access
1. Section 1—Supreme Court Decisions Consistent with Public Opinion No access
2. Section 2—Supreme Court Decisions Inconsistent with Public Opinion No access
3. Section 3—“Unclear” Supreme Court Decisions with Public Opinion No access
4. Section 4—Poll-Matched Supreme Court Decisions Identified after the Court’s 2020–2021 Term and Not Included in This Book’s Analysis No access
Bibliography No access Pages 159 - 186
Index No access Pages 187 - 190
About the Author No access Pages 191 - 192