webglobelg.gif (5662 bytes)Department of Government & Politics
 Fall 2007

GVPT 872   Judicial Processes and Decision-Making

Wayne McIntosh

3140 Tydings Hall

301.405.4134

 

 
 

Course Outline and Readings  Research Papers Reference Material Court Opinion Search 

The aim of this course is to introduce graduate students to the assessment of judicial decision‑making in the United States. While the bulk of the course will focus on the U.S. Supreme Court, some time will be devoted to state courts and federal courts below the U.S. Supreme Court. The seminar has two basic purposes: to understand how judges make decisions and to develop a strategy for engaging in publishable quality research within the broader field of American law and courts.  The first part of the semester we will examine critically a variety of research approaches to the central problems.  The second part will be devoted to research.     

The public law literature can be classified broadly and crudely into three categories.  One category, Constitutional Law, features the study of constitutional development, judicial doctrines, celebrated cases, judicial biography, and the like.  The second, jurisprudence, focuses upon legal philosophy and theory. While the emphasis in this seminar is elsewhere, a thorough grounding in these two approaches to public law is as crucial to social science research of the judicial system as is the knowledge of history or language for the student of comparative politics or international relations.  The study of judicial behavior and process concentrates on the actions of people engaged in court-centered activity, trends exhibited by aggregations of such individuals, and the behavior of institutions in this milieu.  In this seminar we shall consider and assess critically a variety of approaches and analytical techniques that have been used in this field of inquiry.

  ORGANIZATION AND PROCEDURE

Reading and Discussion: I believe that teaching is a dialectical process in which everyone plays a major role. This requires careful preparation and active participation by me and by all seminar members. The format of the seminar will be open discussion. Readings are assigned in advance, and I will expect you to come to class sessions prepared to discuss them. I and one of you will lead the discussion each week, but contributions by all should be the norm. Classroom participation, including oral presentations, will be taken into account when determining final grades (20%). Hence, it is very much in your individual interest to participate in our collective consideration of the literature.

This course assumes a basic familiarity with the structure and operation of American courts. Students who do not have this background should plan to read the following as soon as possible:

REQUIRED TEXTS

Available at the bookstores:

·        Lawrence Baum. 1997. The Puzzle of Judicial Behavior.  University of Michigan Press.

·        Cornell Clayton and Howard Gillman (eds). 1998. Supreme Court Decision-Making: New Institutionalist Approaches.  University of Chicago Press.

·        Lee Epstein and Jack Knight.  1998.  The Choices Justices Make.  Congressional Quarterly Press. 

·        Howard Gillman and Cornell W. Clayton (Editors). 1999. The Supreme Court In American Politics: New Institutionalist Interpretations.  University Press of Kansas.

·        Hansford, Thomas G., & James F. Spriggs.  2006. The Politics Of Precedent On The U.S. Supreme Court.  Princeton Univ Pr.

·        Nancy Maveety (ed.). (January 2003). The Pioneers Of Judicial Behavior.  University of Michigan Press.

·        H.W. Perry, Jr. 1991.  Deciding to Decide: Agenda Setting in the United States Supreme Court.  Harvard University Press. 

·        Jeffrey A. Segal and Harold J. Spaeth.  2002. The Supreme Court and the Attitudinal Model: Revisited.  Cambridge University Press.

 

Recommended:

Forrest Maltzman, James F. Spriggs II, and Paul J. Wahlbeck. 2000. Crafting Law on the Supreme Court: The Collegial Game.  Cambridge University Press.  

 

Research Papers                                                              Go Back

General Statement. Each seminar member will write a research paper on a particular set of questions related to judicial behavior and decision-making. With my help you will select a general problem, and we will then narrow it down to a manageable research question. I will have more to say about this in class. I strongly suggest that you make an appointment by mid-October to discuss this with me.

Specific Instructions.

Within the first three weeks of the semester you should turn in a one page proposal, describing what you want to look at and how you plan to do so. At the end of week 6, you must turn in a 7-10 page detailed research design. A first draft of the completed paper must be turned in at the end of week 12; I will comment on and return the first drafts within one week (hopefully quicker). A final, revised version of the paper is due at the end of the examination week. I will give an automatic extension through the end of December to students who so desire it; however, extensions beyond that date will be given only for extra-ordinary reasons.

Your paper will take the form of an article-length manuscript, suitable for publication in a political science or socio-legal journal. The following components are, thus, required:

1. general introduction, a section containing a research question and a statement of significance;

2. a theoretical account, a section containing a theoretically-driven answer to your question and demonstrating your knowledge of the existing literature;

3. expectations, a section proposing specific hypotheses you propose to test or a model you plan to assess;

4. measurements/data, a section explaining how you plan to assess the literature's answer and the data sources from which you plan to derive your assessment;

5. analyses/results, a section presenting your findings; and,

6. conclusion, a section summarizing your findings and how they are/are not compatible with the literature, and some suggestions for future research.
 

Papers are due on the last day of class.
 

Course Outline/Readings                               Go Back

I. Introduction, September 5-September 12 (no meeting on August 29)

Reading:

        For Further Consideration:

II. Role of Law in American Politics, September 19

Reading:

        For Further Consideration:

III. Setting The Judicial Agenda, September 26

Reading:

IV. Decision-Making: The Attitudinal Model I, October 3

Reading:

V. Decision-Making: The Attitudinal Model II, October 10

Reading:

For Further Consideration:

V: Strategic Decision-Making Models, October 17 

Reading:

 For Further Consideration:

VI: Institutionalism I, October 24

Reading:

VII: Institutionalism II, October 31

Reading:

VIII: Does Law Matter?, November 7

Reading:

 For Further Consideration:

IX: Norm of Consensus?, November 14

Reading:

 For Further Consideration:

X: Inter-court Relations, November 21

Reading:

 For Further Consideration: Other Courts in the System

STATE SUPREME COURTS
Reading: