The United States Supreme Court and Politics: Judicial Retirements, the Docket, and the Nomination Process

(Hardback)

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Description

While common-sense attitudes towards the United States Supreme Court have been focused on what decisions they are likely to make, this book aims to focus on the impacts of other politicized elements of the Court. Through statistical modeling and other quantitative analyses, Justin DePlato examines the ability of the presidency and the Senate to influence and shape policy through the Courts nomination process, docket selection, and judicial retirements. The Court operating as a political institution threatens to affect, where it hasnt already outright intervened, civil liberties and social issues in the modern era and represents a controversial mechanic in the workings of American statecraft.

Reviews

In this interesting study, DePlato and Markulin look at the role of ideology and politics in the Supreme Count, as revealed by timing of retirements, nominations of justices, and docket selection. The authors are to be lauded for studying these processes empirically--they let the data tell the story--and for the clarity of their prose, which is neither too verbose nor too reliant on jargon. Recommended.

Author Bio

Justin P DePlato is associate professor of political science at Robert Morris University.