We develop and assess an account of ideological asymmetries in public support for the Supreme Court. We find that specific support for the Supreme Court is more strongly negatively related to perceptions that the Court is overly liberal than perceptions that the Court is overly conservative. Our findings provide a more complete theoretical account of dynamics in specific support for the Supreme Court and indicate a mechanism behind the recent decline in the Supreme Court’s public standing.
This chapter considers the reciprocal relationships between the Supreme Court and public opinion. Scientific research on this topic is divided into a pair of overlapping research agendas. The first considers the development of public attitudes about the Supreme Court among the American people and the consequences of those attitudes for judicial behavior and the Court’s institutional integrity. The second considers how Americans’ policy attitudes influence the behavior of justices and the decisions of the Supreme Court and how the Court’s decisions influence public opinion. We review and discuss the current state of knowledge in these areas and describe some fruitful directions for additional scholarly inquiry.
An extensive literature spanning political science, law, and other fields recognizes that public support for judicial authority insulates courts from political pressures and catalyzes compliance with judicial decisions. The nexus between public sentiment and judicial power is especially salient for the Supreme Court of the United States, whose unelected members exercise judicial review of federal and state laws and executive actions. Yet, a variety of data indicate declining public support for the United States Supreme Court over the last decade or more. Here, we develop and assess an account of ideological asymmetries in public support for the Supreme Court. We find that specific support for the Supreme Court is more strongly negatively related to perceptions that the Court is overly liberal than perceptions that the Court is overly conservative.
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