Why the Supreme Court Cares About Elites, Not the American People

Authors

Lawrence Baum
Neal Devins, William & Mary Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

Supreme Court Justices care more about the views of academics, journalists, and other elites than they do about public opinion. This is true of nearly all Justices and is especially true of swing Justices, who often cast the critical votes in the Court’s most visible decisions. In this Article, we will explain why we think this is so and, in so doing, challenge both the dominant political science models of judicial behavior and the significant work of Barry Friedman, Jeffrey Rosen, and others who link Supreme Court decision making to public opinion.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2010

Publication Information

98 Georgetown Law Journal 1515-1581 (2010)

Repository Citation

Baum, Lawrence and Devins, Neal, "Why the Supreme Court Cares About Elites, Not the American People" (2010). Faculty Publications. 1116.
https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/facpubs/1116