Supreme court term paper

Final Assignment: Please choose one of the two final essay questions and answer it in connection with the suggested literature.

Essay 1 :

The Howard Gilman’s article reveals how political parties use the Courts to advance their policy goals. Similarly, the McGuire and Caldeira’s paper discloses how professional lawyers and organized interests act as critical agents in the process of building the Supreme Court’s agenda.  In light of these two articles and the Mishler and Sheehan’s paper, please answer these questions: Do you think the Supreme Court acts as a counter majoritarian institution? What is the impact of public opinion on the court?

Readings:

Kevin T. McGuire and Gregory Caldeira “Lawyers, Organized Interests, and the Law of Obscenity: Agenda Setting in the Supreme Court” American Political Science Review 87.3 (1993) 717-728.

Gregory Caldeira and John Wright “Organized Interests and Agenda Setting in the Supreme Court” American Political Science Review 82 (1988) 1109-1127.

Howard Gillman, “How Political Parties Can Use the Courts to Advance Their Agendas: Federal Courts in the United States, 1875-1891” American Political Science Review 96.3 (2002) 511-523.

William Mishler and Reginald Sheehan “The Supreme Court as a Counter majoritarian Institution? The Impact of Public Opinion on Supreme Court Decisions” American Political Science Review 87.1 (1993) 87-101.