Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-tsvsl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-26T02:43:00.276Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Seeking Information: When the Court Wants More

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2022

Natalie C. Rogol  and
Matthew D. Montgomery
Natalie C. Rogol
Affiliation:
Rhode Island College, USA
Matthew D. Montgomery*
Affiliation:
Georgia State University, USA
*
Contact the corresponding author, Matthew D. Montgomery, at mattmontgomery82@gmail.com.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The State of the Union represents an opportunity for the president to share policy goals with other political actors. Thus, the State of the Union can proxy how much information the Court has about executive preferences when receiving a case. We find that the less time a president devotes to a policy area, the more likely the Court is to issue a request for a brief in a case dealing with that issue area. This finding indicates that the Court is cognizant of presidential signals of policy preferences and actively seeks to supplement its understanding of the executive’s preferences.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Law and Courts , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , Spring 2021 , pp. 49 - 68
Copyright
© 2021 by the Law and Courts Organized Section of the American Political Science Association. All rights reserved.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bailey, Michael, and Chang, Kelly H. 2001. “Comparing Presidents, Senators, and Justices: Interinstitutional Preference Estimation.” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 17 (2): 477–506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bailey, Michael Α., Kamoie, Brian, and Maltzman, Forrest. 2005. “Signals from the Tenth Justice: The Political Role of the Solicitor General in Supreme Court Decision Making.” American Journal of Political Science 49 72–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baum, Lawrence 1995. The Supreme Court. 5th ed. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly.Google Scholar
Black, Ryan., and Owens, Ryan J. 2011. “Solicitor General Influence and Agenda Setting on the United States Supreme Court.” Political Research Quarterly 64 (4): 765–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Black, Ryan., and Owens, Ryan J.. 2012. “Looking Back to Move Forward: Quantifying Policy Predictions in Political Decision Making.” American Journal of Political Science 56 (4): 802–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonneau, Chris., Hammond, Thomas H., Maltzman, Forrest, and Wahlbeck, Paul J. 2007. “Agenda Control, the Median Justice, and the Majority Opinion on the U.S. Supreme Court.” American Journal of Political Science 51 (4): 890–905.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bump, Philip 2017. “In Federal Courts v. Trump, Public Opinion Is on the Side of the Courts.” Washington Post, April 26.Google Scholar
Calabresi, Steven G. 1998. “The President, the Supreme Court, and the Constitution: A Brief Positive Account of the Role of Government Lawyers in the Development of Constitutional Law.” Law and Contemporary Problems 61 (1): 61–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canes-Wrone, Brandice, and Shotts, Kenneth W. 2004. “The Conditional Nature of Presidential Responsiveness to Public Opinion.” American Journal of Political Science 48 (4): 690–706.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canon, Bradley., and Giles, >Michael. 1972. “Recurring Litigants: Federal Agencies before the Supreme Court.” Western Political Quarterly 25 (2): 183–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caplan, Lincoln 1987. The Tenth Justice: The Solicitor General and the Rule of Law. New York: Vintage.Google Scholar
Casillas, Christopher., Enns, Peter K., and Wohlfarth, Patrick C. 2011. “How Public Opinion Constrains the U.S. Supreme Court.” American Journal of Political Science 55 (1): 74–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, Tom S. 2009. “The Separation of Powers, Court Curbing, and Judicial Legitimacy.” American Journal of Political Science 53 (4): 971–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clayton, Cornell W. 1992. The Politics of Justice: The Attorney General and the Making of Legal Policy. Armonk, NY: Sharpe.Google Scholar
Collins, Paul M. 2007. “Lobbyists before the U.S. Supreme Court: Investigating the Influence of Amicus Curiae Briefs.” Political Research Quarterly 60 (1): 55–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corley, Pamela, Amy Steigerwalt, and Artemus Ward. 2013. The Puzzle of Unanimity. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Corley, Pamela C. 2008. “The Supreme Court and Opinion Content: The Influence of Parties’ Briefs.” Political Research Quarterly 61 (3): 468–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crowley, Donald W. 1987. “Judicial Review of Administrative Agencies: Does the Type of Agency Matter?” Western Political Quarterly 40 (2): 265–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curry, Brett., Pacelle, Richard L., and Marshall, Bryan W. 2008. “‘An Informal and Limited Alliance’: The President and the Supreme Court.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 38 (2): 223–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epstein, Lee, and Knight, Jack. 1998. Choices Justices Make. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Epstein, Lee, Knight, Jack, and Martin, Andrew D. 2001. “The Supreme Court as a Strategic National Policymaker.” Emory Law Review 50 (2): 583–611.Google Scholar
Epstein, Lee, Martin, Andrew D., Segal, Jeffrey A., and Westerland, Chad. 2007. “The Judicial Common Space.” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 23 (2): 303–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epstein, Lee, and Segal, Jeffrey A. 2000. “Measuring Issue Salience.” American Journal of Political Science 44 (1): 66–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epstein, Lee, and Walker, Thomas G. 2016. Constitutional Law for a Changing America: Rights, Liberties, and Justice. 9th ed. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Eshbaugh-Soha, Matthew. 2005. “The Politics of Presidential Agendas.” Political Research Quarterly 58 (2): 257–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Estreicher, Samuel, and Revesz, Richard L. 1989. “Nonacquiesence by Federal Administrative Agencies.” Yale Law Journal 98 (4): 679–772.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, Louis 1990. “Is the Solicitor General an Executive or a Judicial Agent? Caplan’s ‘Tenth Justice.’” Law and Social Inquiry 15 (2): 305–20.Google Scholar
Gibson, James., and Caldeira, Gregory A. 1995. “The Legitimacy of Transnational Legal Institutions: Compliance, Support, and the European Court of Justice.” American Journal of Political Science 39 (2): 459–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, Barbara L. 2002. “Executive-Judicial Interaction as a Factor in Explaining Presidential Policy Making.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 32 (3): 509–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, Matthew E. K. 2011. The Nature of Supreme Court Power. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hammond, Thomas., and Knott, Jack H. 1996. “Who Controls the Bureaucracy? Presidential Power, Congressional Dominance, Legal Constraints, and Bureaucratic Autonomy in a Model of Multi-Institutional Policy-Making.” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 12 (1): 119–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hausegger, Lori, and Lawrence Baum. 1999. “Inviting Congressional Action: A Study of Supreme Court Motivations in Statutory Interpretation.” American Journal of Political Science 43 (1): 162–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horowitz, Donald L. 1977. “The Courts as Guardians of the Public Interest.” Public Administration Review 37 (2): 148–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howell, William G. 2003. Power without Persuasion: The Politics of Direct Presidential Action. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Timothy R. 2003. “The Supreme Court, the Solicitor General, and the Separation of Powers.” American Politics Research 31 (4): 426–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karr, Elliott 2009. “Independent Litigation Authority and Calls for the Views of the Solicitor General.” George Washington Law Review 77 (4): 1080–100.Google Scholar
Lee, Rex E. 1985. “Lawyering for the Government: Politics, Polemics, and Principle.” Ohio State Law Journal 47 (3): 595–601.Google Scholar
Lepore, Stefanie, A. 2010. “The Development of the Supreme Court Practice of Calling for the Views of the Solicitor General.” Journal of Supreme Court History 35 (1): 35–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, David., and Rose, Roger P. 2014. “Case Salience and the Attitudinal Model: An Analysis of Ordered and Unanimous Votes on the Rehnquist Court.” Justice System Journal 35 (1): 27–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, Jeffrey., Keith Poole, Rosenthal, Howard, Boche, Adam, Rudkin, Aaron, and Sonnet, Luke. 2017. Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/.Google Scholar
Light, Paul C. 1982. The President’s Agenda: Domestic Policy Choice from Kennedy to Carter. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Light, Paul C.. 1999. The President’s Agenda: Domestic Policy Choice from Kennedy to Clinton. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Light, Paul C.. 2004. “Fact Sheet on the President’s Domestic Agenda.” Brookings, Washington, DC. https://www.brookings.edu/research/fact-sheet-on-the-presidents-domestic-agenda/.Google Scholar
Maltzman, Forrest, and Wahlbeck, Paul J. 1996. “Strategic Policy Considerations and Voting Fluidity on the Burger Court.” American Political Science Review 90 (3): 581–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAtee, Andrea, and McGuire, Kevin T. 2007. “Lawyers, Justices, and Issue Salience: When and How Do Legal Arguments Affect the U.S. Supreme Court?” Law and Society Review 41 (2): 259–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGuire, Kevin., and Stimson, James A. 2004. “The Least Dangerous Branch Revisited: New Evidence on Supreme Court Responsiveness to Public Preferences.” Journal of Politics 66 (4): 1018–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meinhold, Stephen., and Shull, Steven A. 1998. “Policy Congruence between the President and the Solicitor General.” Political Research Quarterly 51 (2): 527–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Melnick, Shep 1994. Between the Lines: Interpreting Welfare Rights. Washington, DC: Brookings.Google Scholar
Montgomery, Matthew., Rogol, Natalie C., and Kingsland, Justin T. 2019. “Presidential Rhetoric and U.S. Supreme Court Rulings: The Effect of Going Public on Citizen Evaluations of Institutions and Policy.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 49 (4): 870–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, Michael., Maclin, Elizabeth B., and Kershner, David W. 2001. “Testing Theories of Agency Behavior: Evidence from Hydropower Project Relicensing Decisions of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.” Land Economics 77 (3): 423–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pacelle, Richard 2003. Between Law and Politics: The Solicitor General and the Structuring of Race, Gender, and Reproductive Rights Litigation. College Station: Texas A&M University Press.Google Scholar
Peppers, Todd., and Giles, Micheal W. 2012. “Of Potted Plants and Political Images: The Supreme Court and the State of the Union Address.” Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy 22 49–81.Google Scholar
Richards, Mark., and Kritzer, Herbert M. 2002. “Jurisprudential Regimes in Supreme Court Decision Making.” American Political Science Review 96 (2): 305–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogol, Natalie., Montgomery, Matthew D., and Kingsland, Justin T. 2018. “Going Public: Presidential Impact on Supreme Court Decision-Making.” Justice System Journal 39 (3): 210–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sala, Brian., and Spriggs, James F. 2004. “Designing Tests of the Supreme Court and the Separation of Powers.” Political Research Quarterly 57 (2): 197–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salokar, Rebecca Mae. 1992. The Solicitor General: The Politics of Law. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Scigliano, Robert 1971. The Supreme Court and the Presidency. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Segal, Jeffrey A. 1988. “Amicus Curiae Briefs by the Solicitor General during the Warren and Burger Courts: A Research Note.” Western Political Quarterly 41 (1): 135–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Segal, Jeffrey., and Reedy, Cheryl D. 1988. “The Supreme Court and Sex Discrimination: The Role of the Solicitor General.” Western Political Quarterly 41 (3): 553–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Segal, Jeffrey., and Spaeth, Harold J. 2002. The Supreme Court and the Attitudinal Model Revisited. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shipan, Charles R. 2004. “Regulatory Regimes, Agency Actions, and the Conditional Nature of Congressional Influence.” American Political Science Review 98 (3): 467–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solowiej, Lisa., and Collins, Paul M. Jr 2009. “Counteractive Lobbying in the U.S. Supreme Court.” American Politics Research 37 (4): 670–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tedin, Kent, Rottinghaus, Brandon, and Rodgers, Harrell. 2011. “When the President Goes Public.” Political Research Quarterly 64 (3): 506–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, David., and Wachtell, Melanie F. 2009. “An Empirical Analysis of Supreme Court Certiorari Petition Procedures: The Call for Response and the Call for the Views of the Solicitor General.” George Mason Law Review 16 (2): 237–302.Google Scholar
Tyler, Tom R. 1984. “The Role of Perceived Injustice in Defendants’ Evaluation of Their Court Experience.” Law and Society Review 18 (1): 51–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tyler, Tom., and Rasinski, Kenneth. 1991. “Procedural Justice, Institutional Legitimacy, and the Acceptance of Unpopular U.S. Supreme Court Decisions: A Reply to Gibson.” Law and Society Review 25 (3): 621–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wahlbeck, Paul J. 1997. “The Life of the Law: Judicial Politics and Legal Change.” Journal of Politics 59 (3): 778–802.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waterman, Richard 2009. “The Administrative Presidency, Unilateral Power, and the Unitary Executive Theory.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 39 (1): 5–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
West, William., and Cooper, Joseph. 1990. “Legislative Influence v. Presidential Dominance: Competing Models of Bureaucratic Control.” Political Science Quarterly 104 (4): 581–606.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whittington, Keith E. 2001. “Presidential Challenges to Judicial Supremacy and the Politics of Constitutional Meaning.” Polity 33 (3): 365–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, Ryan., and Smith, Jacob F. H. 2018. “Keeping Up Appearances: Non-policy Court Responses to Public Opinion.” Justice System Journal 39 (1): 54–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, Dan, and Waterman, Richard W. 1991. “The Dynamics of Political Control of the Bureaucracy.” American Political Science Review 85 (3): 801–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Rogol and Montgomery Supplementary material
Download undefined(File)
File 215.4 KB