scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question

Showing papers on "Plurality opinion published in 1999"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a model that explains how justices respond to majority opinion drafts is presented. But the authors do not systematically measure or explain the extent to which justices attempt to affect majority opinions.
Abstract: Supreme Court opinions contain legal rules with broad policy ramifications, and justices try to shape the substance of the Court's opinions. Despite this expectation, scholars have neither systematically measured nor explained the extent to which justices attempt to affect majority opinions. We articulate and test a model that explains how justices respond to majority opinion drafts. Our argument is that justices decide how to respond based on the effect a choice will have on securing their policy goals. The costs or benefits of a choice, moreover, are a function of strategic and contextual factors, including a justice's agreement with an opinion, the collaborative decision-making setting on the Court, case characteristics, and attributes of the justices. Our data analysis strongly supports our argument showing that, among other considerations, justices' responses result from their disagreement with an opinion, the author's prior level of cooperation with them, and the salience of a case.

51 citations


Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: In more than 200 years, fewer than 20 persons have held the title of Chief Justice of the United States as discussed by the authors, and it has become commonplace to identify the Court at different times by the name of its chief justice implying that the chief justice exceeds his brethren in power as well as in prestige.
Abstract: In more than 200 years, fewer than 20 persons have held the title Chief Justice of the United States. It has become commonplace to identify the Court at different times by the name of its chief justice (e.g., “the Warren Court,” “the Rehnquist Court”) implying that the chief justice exceeds his brethren in power as well as in prestige—but does the chief really have a heightened ability to persuade the other justices? This chapter examines the influence of the chief justice on the other judges.

4 citations