Majority Rule or Minority Will: Adherence to Precedent on the U.S. Supreme Court

ISBN-13: 9780521624244 / Angielski / Twarda / 1999 / 378 str.

Harold J. Spaeth (Michigan State University); Stony Brook) Jeffrey A. Segal (State University of New York

Opis

This book examines the influence of precedent on the behavior of the US Supreme Court justices throughout the Court's history. Supreme Court justices almost always "follow" precedent, in that they always cite precedents for the positions they take. Because there are always precedents on either side of a case for justices to follow, following precedent does not mean that the justices are ever influenced by precedent. Employing the assumption that for precedent to be an influence on the behavior of justices, it must lead to a result they would not otherwise have reached, the authors show that precedent rarely controls the justices' votes.

Recenzje

"Their new book, Majority Rule or Minority Will, is a follow-up to...This book raises important qusetions that the heart of work being done by judges and "jurisprudentially minded scholars"." American Bar Foundation

Spis treści

List of tables and figures; Preface; 1. Precedent and the Court; 2. Measuring precedential behavior; 3. Precedential behavior from the beginning through the Chase Court; 4. Precedential behavior bridging the 19th and 20th centuries; 5. Precedential behavior in the Hughes, Stone, and Vinson courts; 6. Precedential behavior in the Warren court; 7. Precedential behavior in the Burger Court; 8. Precedential behavior in the Rehnquist court; 9. The Supreme court and state decisions; 10. Conclusions; List of references; Case index; Subject/name index.