Relationship Between Public Opinion and Supreme Court Decisions

1978 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilie Gaziano
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Supreme Court Decisions

Popular Influence on Supreme Court Decisions

1994 ◽  
Vol 88 (3) ◽  
pp. 711-724 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helmut Norpoth ◽  
Jeffrey A. Segal ◽  
William Mishler ◽  
Reginald S. Sheehan
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Judicial Behavior ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Aggregate Level ◽  
Direct Path ◽  
Supreme Court Decisions ◽  
Direct And Indirect Impacts ◽  
Indirect Impacts

In their 1993 article in this Review, William Mishler and Reginald Sheehan reported evidence of both direct and indirect impacts of public opinion on Supreme Court decisions. Helmut Norpoth and Jeffrey Segal offer a methodological critique and in their own reanalysis of the data find, contrary to Mishler and Sheehan, no evidence for a direct path of influence from public opinion to Court decisions. Instead, they find an abrupt-permanent shift of judicial behavior consistent with an indirect model of influence whereby popularly elected presidents, through new appointments, affect the ideological complexion of the Court. In response, Mishler and Sheehan defend the direct public opinion linkage originally noted, at both individual and aggregate level; respond to the methodological critique; and offer further statistical analysis to support the aggregate linkages.

scholarly journals Connecting Supreme Court Decisions, Media Coverage, and Public Opinion: The Case of Lawrence v. Texas

2006 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 209-230
Author(s):  
Mahalley D. Allen ◽  
Donald P. Haider-Markel
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Gay And Lesbian ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
The Media ◽  
Supreme Court Decisions ◽  
The Relationship

Many scholars have examined the relationship between public opinion and the U.S. Supreme Court, but most researchers have often failed to take into account the fact that the press mediates this relationship. Due to the public’s lack of independent knowledge about Supreme Court decisions, the media has the potential to play an influential role in the communication and interpretation of Supreme Court decisions. In this article, we examine the relationship between the Supreme Court, the media, and public opinion. First, we examine whether increased public tolerance on gay and lesbian issues has resulted in increased media coverage of gay-related cases before the Supreme Court. Second, we examine how media coverage of the Court’s 2003 decision to strike down state sodomy laws in Lawrence v. Texas may have been associated with decreased public support for gay and lesbian civil rights. Our analysis suggests that increased support for gay and lesbian civil rights may have lead to increased media attention to the Lawrence case and that the tone of this coverage may have subsequently resulted in an observed decrease in support for gay and lesbian civil rights following the Court’s decision. We also suggest that the release of a highly critical dissenting opinion by the Court in the case may have encouraged negative media coverage and the resulting shift in public opinion. Our research has broad implications for media coverage of Supreme Court decisions.

The (Ambivalent) Tradition of Equality in America

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kay Lehman Schlozman ◽  
Sidney Verba ◽  
Henry E. Brady
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Civic Culture ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Federal Constitution ◽  
Supreme Court Decisions ◽  
Political Voice

This chapter considers the place of equality, in all its complexity, in the American civic culture. It draws evidence from several sources: the debates occasioned by the drafting and ratification of the federal constitution, Supreme Court decisions, the fifty constitutions of the separate states, and public opinion as measured in surveys over the past several decades. In considering American understandings of equality, this chapter moves beyond an emphasis on equality of political voice to encompass the multiple aspects of the concept of equality. A brief look at these sources provides a context of normative debate in which to understand the empirical evidence that forms the bulk of this work and suggests that, while Americans are egalitarians, they are somewhat ambivalent egalitarians.

The Canadian Agendas Project

2019 ◽  
pp. 67-73
Author(s):  
Jean-Philippe Gauvin ◽  
Éric Montpetit
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Political System ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Legislative Branch ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Supreme Court Decisions

The Canadian Agendas Project includes a variety of datasets that highlight how the country’s political system shapes policymaking. It started originally as way to study legislative outputs, but the project has grown well beyond its initial objects and goals to embrace a wide set of other research questions and directions. The combination of British parliamentarism with federalism, which concentrates powers in the hands of the executives, is studied through Speeches from the Throne and intergovernmental meetings data. The responsiveness of the legislative branch to public opinion is analyzed through oral questions, legislative bills, and most important question data. Finally, the project also looks at the judiciary and Supreme Court decisions and leaves for appeal.

Reassessing the Impact of Supreme Court Decisions on Public Opinion: Gay Civil Rights Cases

2006 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W. Stoutenborough ◽  
Donald P. Haider-Markel ◽  
Mahalley D. Allen
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Supreme Court Decisions ◽  
The Impact
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