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

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 Public Employment Relationship and the Supreme Court in the 1980S

1988 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
David H. Rosenbloom
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Employment Relationship ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Constitutional Rights ◽  
Public Employees ◽  
Public Employment ◽  
The Public ◽  
Supreme Court Decisions

During the 1980s, Supreme Court decisions on the public employment relationship tended to constitutionalize public personnel administration further and to promote adjudicatory processes within it. The Court has been highly divided on issues involving the public employment relationship and, for the most part, has not developed broad general doctrines that comprehensively define the scope of public employees' constitutional rights. Rather, it has opted frequently for balancing approaches that promote a case-by-case jurisprudence that may fail to afford public personnelists adequate guidance. This article reviews Supreme Court decisions in the areas of public employees' substantive constitutional rights, their constitutional rights to procedural due process and equal protection, and their qualified immunity/liability for breaches of others' constitutional and/or federally protected statutory civil rights.

Modeling the Impact of Supreme Court Decisions: Wygant v. Board

1988 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-149
Author(s):  
Nelson C. Dometrius ◽  
Lee Sigelman
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Supreme Court Decisions ◽  
The Impact

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.

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