American Constitutionalism: Volume I: Structures of Government

Until recently, the campaign for marriage equality in the United States would win a victory in court, only to see that victory erased or seriously imperiled in the legislatures or in popular referenda and initiatives. In scholarly literature, this is referred to as “backlash.” In the past few years the advocates for marriage equality have won a string of victories both in courts and in legislatures, challenging the “backlash hypothesis,” which argues litigation cannot successfully advance reform goals. While there has been a lot of research into the marriage equality movement, there has been little that focuses on the strategies the attorneys in that movement used to both win victories in court and protect those victories from political backlash. Drawing on interviews with many of the most important attorneys in the organizations associated with the marriage equality movement, this thesis analyses the movement’s internalization of the backlash hypothesis and the strategies implemented to win legal victories and protect them in the political sphere. This thesis concludes that attorneys working in organizations dedicated to the marriage equality movement have internalized the backlash hypothesis and have turned all aspects of litigation into political tools.

/pdf/dual-track-advocacy-legal-strategies-political-strategies-24x6qa01to.pdf

“Dual Track Advocacy:” Legal Strategies, Political Strategies and Their Intersection in the Marriage Equality Movement

The U.S. Constitution, the oldest written constitution, gives each branch of the federal government certain distinct powers, each apportioned through a separated system with built-in checks and balances calculated to guard against abuses perpetrated by any one branch. The nation is therefore said to have three separate governmental branches sharing power. This chapter introduces the Supreme Court and its exercise of power, examining milestone decisions beginning with Marbury v. Madison (1803). It then explains the framework used for exploring the Court’s policy-making across the three major constitutional eras as laid out in Robert McCloskey’s The American Supreme Court.

American Constitutionalism: Volume I: Structures of Government

Citations

Interest Groups and Supreme Court Commerce Clause Regulation, 1920-1937

“Dual Track Advocacy:” Legal Strategies, Political Strategies and Their Intersection in the Marriage Equality Movement

The Supreme Court and Judicial Power

Related Papers (5)

The politics of history

A history of politics

The politics of American democracy

Between Politics and Science: Preface

American politics and the Constitution