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Susan W. Johnson

Bio: Susan W. Johnson is an academic researcher from University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The author has contributed to research in topics: Supreme court & Voting behavior. The author has an hindex of 9, co-authored 17 publications receiving 248 citations.

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article examined the impact of lawyer capability on the decisionmaking of the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) and found that the first two variables have a statistically significant and positive relationship with the SCC's decisions in non-reference-question cases from 1988 to 2000.
Abstract: This article examines the impact of lawyer capability on the decisionmaking of the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC). Extending prior attorney capability studies of U.S. judicial decisionmaking, we test three lawyer variables: prior litigation experience, litigation team size, and Queen's Counsel designation. We find that the first two variables have a statistically significant and positive relationship with the SCC's decisions in non-reference-question cases from 1988 to 2000. Moreover, this relationship persists even after controlling for party capability, issue area, and judicial policy preferences.

58 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper analyzed a data set consisting of all non-unanimous published Supreme Court decisions for the period 1949 to 2000 and found that since the Court gained substantial docket control, the types of cases the Court hears has changed from the period studied by Tate and Sittiwong.
Abstract: . This study seeks to add to the current understanding of the political nature of the Supreme Court of Canada. We analyze a data set consisting of all nonunanimous published Supreme Court decisions for the period 1949 to 2000. A prior study by Tate and Sittiwong (1989) suggested a model of judge attributes for the period 1949 to 1985. We build on that analysis by extending the time period to 2000, which allows the impact of gender also to be assessed. We find that since the Court gained substantial docket control, the types of cases the Court hears has changed from the period studied by Tate and Sittiwong. In the more recent period, civil rights and liberties cases are much more substantial in number. We conclude some of the variables in the Tate and Sittiwong study may be time bound and we suggest a new model of attitudinal voting.Resume. Cet etude cherche de augmenter le savoir courant du le nature politique du Cour supreme du Canada. Nous analysons un ensemble de donnees non unanime compose de tout decisions publie du Cour supreme entre les annees 1949 a 1985. Une enquete precede fait par Tate et Sittiwong (1989) a propose un modele des attributs des juges pour la periode entre 1949 a 1985. Nous poursuivons laquelle analyse pour prolonger la periode du temps jusqu'a 2000, ce que on permettre evalue l'effet du sexe aussi. Nous trouvons que comme le Cour a conquis considerable control du registre, les gendres dossier entendre par le Cour ont change depuis le periode de enquete de Tate y Sittiwong. Pendent le periode plus recent les dossiers concernant les droits civiles et libertes sont beaucoup plus nombreux. Nous concluons que possiblement, quelques variables de l'enquete du Tate et Sittiwong soient liees par le temp et nous proposent un modele neuf des votes attitudinal.

36 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article examined the voting behavior of Canadian Supreme Court justices and found that they exhibit a much higher degree of ideological complexity than the U.S. justices of the Rehnquist court.
Abstract: According to attitudinal theorists, justices on the U.S. Supreme Court decide cases largely on political preferences that fall within one dimension of ideology. The focus of this study is to test whether a unidimensional ideological model explains the voting behavior of Canadian Supreme Court justices (1992—1997). The factor-analytic results in three areas of law, two of which have never been examined in this way in Canada, provide substantial evidence of ideological voting. Yet unlike the U.S. justices of the Rehnquist court, Canadian justices exhibit a much higher degree of ideological complexity. These findings call into question the widely held assumption of unidimensional decision making that is in vogue in the U.S. literature today, and they suggest that attitudinal theorists and comparative scholars must be cognizant that multiple dimensions of attitudinal voting might occur in high courts that are not as ideologically polarized as the U.S. Supreme Court.

34 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For example, Carp et al. as discussed by the authors found that the political preferences of the appointing presidents are most closely related to the policy-relevant decisions of the judges in the U.S. district court.
Abstract: While many of the decisions of federal district court judges involve the routine application of settled legal rules, a significant minority of their decisions present the judges with the opportunity to engage in judicial policy making. A considerable body of literature suggests that when faced with policy-making opportunities, the policy preferences of the judges exert a significant impact on the nature of those decisions. The present study explores the question of whose preferences are manifested in the policy-relevant decisions of the district court judges. In particular, we seek to determine the relative impact of the preferences of the major elites involved in the selection of federal district judges: the appointing president, home state senators of the president's party, and home state elites outside the Senate who are consulted when a president makes an appointment from a state whose Senate delegation is in the hands of the opposition party. The analysis is based on all published decisions of the district courts in civil liberties, economic and labor, and criminal procedure cases decided between 1961 and 1995. We find that contrary to the expectations derived from the existing literature on district judge appointments, the political preferences of the appointing presidents are most closely related to the policy relevant decisions of the judges. Introduction The U.S. district courts represent the basic point of input for the federal judiciary and are the "workhorses" of the federal system (Carp & Stidham 1998:23). Since the vast majority of their decisions are not appealed, district judges often have the last say about most of the legal issues resolved in federal court. Those decisions increasingly extend to a host of new issues with controversial political implications: the availability of abortions, standards for defining obscenity, the quality of the air we breathe, requirements for affirmative action programs, standards for the maintenance of prisons, what plea bargains would be accepted in political corruption investigations like Watergate, and the admissibility of evidence from searches and confessions in high-profile criminal prosecutions (Goulden 1974; Rowland & Carp 1996). While many of their decisions involve the routine application of settled legal rules, a significant minority of their decisions, especially those published in the Federal Supplement, present the judges with the opportunity to engage in judicial policy making. A considerable body of literature suggests that when judges are faced with policy-making opportunities, their policy preferences exert a significant impact on the nature of those decisions (Carp & Rowland 1983; Rowland & Carp 1996; Richardson & Vines 1970; Rowland & Carp 1983; Peltason 1955). The present study explores the question of whose preferences are manifested in the policy-relevant decisions of the district court judges. In particular, we seek to determine the relative impact of the preferences of the major elites involved in the selection of federal district judges: the appointing president, home state senators of the president's party, and home state elites outside the Senate who are consulted when a president makes an appointment from a state whose Senate delegation is in the hands of the opposition party. The Appointment of District Court Judges "In form, the appointment of federal judges could not be simpler: they are nominated by the President and affirmed by majority vote of the Senate" (Richardson & Vines 1970:58). In practice, however, more actors are involved than just the president and the Senate sitting as a collective body, and the politics of the process varies in significant ways for judges nominated to different courts. Examinations of the politics of judicial selection have concluded that even at the bottom of the judicial hierarchy where local political forces have their greatest impact, the president is a key player (Carp & Stidham 1998; Goldman 1997; Richardson & Vines 1970; Rowland & Carp 1996). …

26 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article explored gendered patterns of voting, and whether such patterns appear only after a critical mass of female justices is reached by analyzing the votes of justices in the Supreme Court of Canada.
Abstract: In this study, we explore gendered patterns of voting, and whether such patterns appear only after a critical mass of female justices is reached by analyzing the votes of justices in the Supreme Court of Canada. We employ a logistic regression model of the differences in the voting behavior of male versus female justices, using the universe of Supreme Court votes from 1982 through 2007. Our analysis supports the conclusion that women vote more liberally on civil rights, equality, and private economic cases, and more conservatively on criminal cases. However, we find no evidence that indicates a need for a critical mass of women justices for them to vote their sincere preferences.

21 citations


Cited by
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01 Jan 1982
Abstract: Introduction 1. Woman's Place in Man's Life Cycle 2. Images of Relationship 3. Concepts of Self and Morality 4. Crisis and Transition 5. Women's Rights and Women's Judgment 6. Visions of Maturity References Index of Study Participants General Index

7,539 citations

01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a psychological study of groupthink in foreign policy decisions and fiascoes, which they call "Victims of Groupthink" and "Fiascoes".
Abstract: Thank you for reading victims of groupthink a psychological study of foreign policy decisions and fiascoes. As you may know, people have look hundreds times for their chosen readings like this victims of groupthink a psychological study of foreign policy decisions and fiascoes, but end up in malicious downloads. Rather than reading a good book with a cup of tea in the afternoon, instead they are facing with some malicious bugs inside their computer.

389 citations

Journal ArticleDOI

378 citations