What influences decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court? For decades social scientists focused on the ideology of individual justices. "Supreme Court Decision Making" moves beyond this focus by exploring how justices are influenced by the distinctive features of courts as institutions and their place in the political system.
Drawing on interpretive-historical institutionalism as well as rational choice theory, a group of leading scholars consider such factors as the influence of jurisprudence, the unique characteristics of supreme courts, the dynamics of coalition building, and the effects...

For years many citizens have complained that our national government is fettered by legions of inefficient, unaccountable, feather-nesting lawyers. These critics might be right about the numbers--there are nearly 40,000 lawyers employed by the federal government in every branch and at every level. But most of these professionals fulfill functions that are essential to or extremely valuable in running the machinery of government.

In this volume, Cornell Clayton and eight other authorities on public law and legal agencies explore the role that politics play in this federal legal...

First Published in 2015. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an Informa company.