Romancing the court

Boston University Law Review

Volumn 89, Issue 2, 2009, Pages 563-579

  Rosenberg, Gerald N ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 67649528202     PISSN: 00068047     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (140)

1. 1 See GERALD N. ROSENBERG, THE HOLLOW HOPE: CAN CVOURTS BRING ABOUT SOCIAL CHANGE? 21-28 (2d ed. 2008) (recounting academic support for the "Dynamic Court" view of the judiciary, which argues that the "political, institutional, and economic independence" of the courts makes them the most effective governmental agent for social change).
2. 2 See Brown v. Bd. of Educ., 347 U. S. 483, 493 (1954).
3. 3 See Regents of the Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke, 438 U. S. 265, 289-90 (1978) (opinion of Powell, J.).
4. 4 See Roe v. Wade, 410 U. S. 113, 164-66 (1973).
5. 5 See United States v. Virginia, 518 U. S. 515, 534 (1996).
6. 6 See Furman v. Georgia, 408 U. S. 238, 239-40 (1972) (per curiam).
7. 7 See Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U. S. 558, 578 (2003).
8. 8 See generally ROSENBERG, supra note 1 (discussing other leading cases in which scholars have credited the Supreme Court with producing progressive change).
9. 9 Lani Guinier, The Supreme Court, 2007 Term - Foreword: Demosprudence Through Dissent, 122 HARV. L. REV. 4, 47 (2008) (defining demosprudence as "a lawmaking or legal practice that builds on the collective wisdom of the people" by tapping the "power of social movements or mobilized constituencies to make, interpret, and change law").
10. 10 Id. at 17.
11. 11 127 S. Ct. 2738, 2746 (2007).
12. 12 Guinier, supra note 9, at 8-13.
13. 13 Id. at 11.
14. 14 Id. at 10.
15. 15 Id. at 12.
16. 16 Id. at 14-15 (contending that Chief Justice Roberts's push for unanimity in the Court's opinions, intended to give the Court a more authoritative voice, magnifies the importance of oral dissents).
17. 17 Id. at 7 (quoting Justice Kennedy).
18. 18 See id. at 30-31.
19. 19 Id.
20. 20 Id. at 14, 17, 31, 47, 50, 51, 58, 112, 115, 132, 137.
21. 21 Id. at 51, 132 (quoting Eugene V. Rostow, The Democratic Character of Judicial Review, 66 HARV. L. REV. 193, 208 (1952) (declaring that "[t]he Supreme Court is, among other things, an educational body" and as such contributes to forming American public opinion and public policy)).
22. 22 WALTER F. MURPHY et al., PUBLIC EVALUATIONS of CONSTITUTIONAL COURTS: ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATIONS 53 (1973) (reporting that in 1966, despite a recent spate of dramatic Supreme Court decisions, only forty-six percent of survey respondents "could recall anything at all that the Court had recently done");
23. Gerald N. Rosenberg, The Irrelevant Court: The Supreme Court's Inability to Influence Popular Beliefs About Equality (or Anything Else), in REDEFINING EQUALITY 172, 187 (Neal Devins and Davison M. Douglas eds., 1998) (finding no evidence in polling data to support the claim that the Supreme Court influenced public opinion in favor of racial or gender equality). See generally NATHANIEL PERSILY, JACK CITRIN and PATRICK J. EGAN, PUBLIC OPINION and CONSTITUTIONAL CONTROVERSY (2008) (examining the Supreme Court's effect on public opinion of constitutional controversies).
24. 23 See generally PERSILY, CITRIN and EGAN, supra note 22.
25. 24 Nathaniel Persily, Introduction to PERSILY, CRTRIN and EGAN, supra note 22, at 8.
26. 25 See id. at 9.
27. 26 See generally PERSILY, CITRIN and EGAN, supra note 22.
28. 27 CBS News/New York Times Poll (Mar. 1982), available at iPOLL Databank, The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut, http://www.ropercenter.uconn. edu/ipoll.html.
29. 28 Id.
30. 29 See CHARLES FRIED, ORDER AND LAW: ARGUING the REAGAN REVOLUTION - A FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT 72 (1991) ("The Reagan administration made Roe v. Wade the symbol of everything that had gone wrong in law, particularly in constitutional law.").
31. 30 CBS News/New York Times Poll, supra note 27.
32. 31 Id.
33. 32 Survey by Research and Forecasts, Inc., Knowledge of the U. S. Constitution (Oct.-Nov. 1986), available at iPOLL Databank, The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut, http://www.ropercenter.uconn. edu/ipoll.html.
34. 33 Id.
35. 34 Id.
36. 35 A 1998 CBS News/New York Times Poll found 55% of respondents saying the Court permits abortions. CBS News/New York Times Poll (Jan. 1998), available at iPOLL Databank, The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut, http://www.ropercenter.uconn. edu/ipoll.html. This means, of course, that 45% of respondents were unaware of what Roe v. Wade permitted or did not permit.
37. 36 Katie Couric, Palin, Biden Trade Views On Abortion, CBS NEWS, Oct. 1, 2008, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/01/ eveningnews/main4493062.shtml.
38. 37 Guinier writes that Justice Scalia has been "a perpetual oral dissenter, often using oral dissents to transform a case into a cause." Guinier, supra note 9, at 46 and n. 206.
39. 38 Id. at 15.
40. 39 Id. at 23 n. 94 (listing Justice Scalia as the most frequent oral dissenter, with eleven oral dissents in the period, followed by Justice Stevens with ten).
41. 40 Id. at 120 n. 549.
42. 41 See id. at 24.
43. 42 Id. at 53 (observing that journalists present at an oral dissent are initially responsible for disseminating it using their verbatim notes).
44. 43 See id. at 10, 25-28.
45. 44 See id. at 54 (blaming the "Court's resistance to twenty-first-century technology" for the failure of oral dissents to "realize their demosprudential potential").
46. 45 See The Oyez Project, About Oyez, http://us.oyez.org/about (last visited Feb. 12, 2009).
47. 46 See Guinier, supra note 9, at 53-54 n. 234 (reporting a "few months" delay in processing the Court's audio materials by the National Archives).
48. 47 Id. at 7-18.
49. 48 Id. at 17 n. 50 (noting that the files should be available from Oyez "as of October 2008").
50. 49 The Oyez Project, http://us.oyez.org/(last visited Feb. 12, 2009).
51. 50 The Oyez Project, Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 - Opinion Announcement, http://us.oyez.org/cases/2000- 2009/2006/2006-05-908/opinion (last visited Feb. 1, 2009).
52. 51 Guinier, supra note 9, at 120 n. 549.
53. 52 Id. at 28.
54. 53 Id. at 30 n. l33.
55. 54 Id. at 29.
56. 55 Id. at 28.
57. 56 See, e.g., Kevin M. Scott and Kyle L. Saunders, Supreme Court Influence and the Awareness of Court Decisions 2 (Aug. 31, 2006) (unpublished manuscript, available at http://www.allacademic.com/meta/pl52007-index. html) (arguing that "the institution of the Court itself, the media, and other group cleavages all play a varying role in how individuals find out about issues before the Court and the decisions that the Court makes").
58. 57 See id. at 6-7 (concluding that "media coverage of the Supreme Court... is sporadic, inconsistent, and non-reflective of the diversity of the Supreme Court's docket").
59. 58 Charles H. Franklin and Liane C. Kosaki, Media, Knowledge, and Public Evaluations of the Supreme Court, in CONTEMPLATING COURTS 352, 360 (Lee Epstein ed., 1995).
60. 59 See id. (observing an increase in media coverage that occurs when political elites react to a Supreme Court decision, even a week after the opinion is announced).
61. 60 Id.
62. 61 Persily, supra note 24, at 9.
63. 62 Id.
64. 63 Guinier, supra note 9, at 24.
65. 64 Id. at 25-28.
66. 65 Id. at 53-54.
67. 66 Id. at 49-50.
68. 67 Id. at 52.
69. 68 See id. at 55.
70. 69 Id. at 13.
71. 70 Id. at 39.
72. 71 The Daily Independent of Ashland, Kentucky, ran a picture showing "Pat Todd, Jefferson County Public School's Executive Director for Student Assignment, speak[ing] Thursday, June 28, 2007 during a press conference at the Van Hoose Education Center in Louisville, Ky." Mark Sherman, Court Rejects Louisville Schools' Diversity Plans, DAILY INDEPENDENT (ASHLAND, KY.), June 28, 2007, http://www.dailyindependent. com/schools/local-story-179110650.html. This was the same day the opinion was read.
73. 72 Guinier, SUPRA NOTE 9, AT 39.
74. 73 ID. AT 12, 39.
75. 74 ID. AT 9.
76. 75 Emily Bazelon, The next kind of integration, N. Y. TIMES MAG, July 20, 2008, at 38, 43.
77. 76 Id.
78. 77 See id.
79. 78 Id. Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education, 127 S. Ct. 2738 (2007), a case involving the student assignment plan in Louisville, Kentucky, was a companion case to Parents Involved.
80. 79 See Guinier, supra note 9, at 52.
81. 80 See generally MICHAEL W. MCCANN, RIGHTS at WORK: PAY EQUITY REFORM AND the POLITICS of LEGAL MOBILIZATION (1994).
82. 81 Id. at 136-37 (emphasis added) (enumerating necessary conditions for "movement building").
83. 82 Id. at 137. "[E]ffective legal mobilization, " McCann adds, "depends on a rare combination of favorable opportunities and resources often in short supply among subordinate groups." Id. at 305 (emphasis added).
84. 83 Guinier, supra note 9, at 103-04.
85. 84 Id. at 104.
86. 85 Id. at 105.
87. 86 Id. at 114.
88. 87 347 U. S. 483 (1954).
89. 88 410 U. S. 113 (1973).
90. 89 798 N. E.2d 941 (Mass. 2003).
91. 90 See ROSENBERG, supra note 1, at 355.
92. 91 Guinier, supra note 9, at 32, 39, 42, 58, 90, 114, 118 (asserting that Court opinions "authorize" individuals and groups to act).
93. 92 Id. at 39.
94. 93 127 S. Ct. 2162 (2007), superseded by statute, Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, Pub. L. No. 111-2, 123 Stat. 5; Guinier, supra note 9, at 42 (asserting that Lilly Ledbetter took on "the role of social critic,... inspired, in part, by Justice Ginsburg's forceful dissent").
95. 94 See Ledbetter, 127 S. Ct. at 2169.
96. 95 Guinier, supra note 9, at 42.
97. 96 128 S. Ct. 1610 (2008) (upholding an Indiana statute requiring voters to present government-issued photo identification).
98. 97 Guinier, supra note 9, at 107.
99. 98 128 S. Ct. 1520 (2008) (holding that Kentucky's lethal injection procedure does not violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment).
100. 99 See id. at 1525-27, 1538.
101. 100 Guinier, supra note 9, at 65.
102. 101 Lydia Saad, Americans Hold Firm to Support for Death Penalty, GALLUP, Nov. 17, 2008, http://www.gallup. com/poll/l 11931/Americans-Hold-Firm-Support-Death-Penalty.aspx (revealing that in 1937, fifty-nine percent of Americans favored the death penalty for convicted murderers).
103. 102 Id.
104. 103 See, e.g., McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U. S. 279, 320 (1987) (Brennan, J., dissenting);
105. Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U. S. 153, 231 (1976) (Marshall, J., dissenting). Starting in 1976, Justices Marshall and Brennan dissented from every decision upholding a sentence of death. MICHAEL MELLO, AGAINST the DEATH PENALTY: THE RELENTLESS DISSENTS of JUSTICES BRENNAN AND MARSHALL 4 (1996). Mello also notes that from 1976 to 1991 Marshall and Brennan dissented in more than 2500 capital cases denying certiorari. Id.
106. 104 Furman v. Georgia, 408 U. S. 238 (1972).
107. 105 Saad, supra note 101 ("[I]t appears that Supreme Court rulings on the death penalty in the 1970s may have sparked increased public support for the punishment, starting around 1976.").
108. 106 Id.
109. 107 Id. Breaking down respondents by party identification, Republicans support it by better than four to one, independents by better than two to one, and Democrats by more than half (fifty-two percent to forty-four percent). Id.
110. 108 Id.
111. 109 Guinier, supra note 9, at 12.
112. 110 ROBERT G. MCCLOSKEY, THE AMERICAN SUPREME COURT 244 (4th ed. 2005).
113. 111 Jeffrey M. Jones, Bush, Congress, Supreme Court Near Historical Low Approval, GALLUP, June 16, 2008, http://www.gallup. com/poll/108010/Bush-Congress-Supreme-Court-Near-Historical-Low-Approval.aspx (reporting a forty-eight percent approval rating for the Court).
114. 112 Id.
115. 113 Persily, supra note 24, at 12.
116. 114 Guinier, supra note 9, at 40-41 (explaining how Justice Ginsburg's oral dissent helped spark a "legislative crusade" over gender discrimination in employee wages).
117. 115 Id. at 137.
118. 116 Lilly Ledbetter, Address at the Democratic National Convention (Aug. 26, 2008), http://www.demconvention. com/lily-ledbetter/.
119. 117 Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, Pub. L. No. 111-2, 123 Stat. 5.
120. 118 See, e.g., William N. Eskridge, Jr., Overriding Supreme Court Statutory Interpretation Decisions, 101 YALE L. J. 331, 334 (1991) ("Congressional overrides are most likely when a Supreme Court interpretation reveals an ideologically fragmented Court, relies on the text's plain meaning and ignores legislative signals, and/or rejects positions taken by federal, state, or local governments.");
121. Joseph Ignagni and James Meernik, Explaining Congressional Attempts to Reverse Supreme Court Decisions, 47 POL. RES. Q. 353, 353 (1994) (finding that "electoral considerations of public opinion and interest group pressure are likely to lead to a congressional response");
122. James Meernik and Joseph Ignagni, Congressional Attacks on Supreme Court Rulings Involving Unconstitutional State Laws, 48 POL. RES. Q. 43, 43 (1995).
123. 119 429 U. S. 125 (1976) (holding that an employer's disability benefits plan that did not cover disabilities related to pregnancy did not violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964), superseded by statute, Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, 42 U. S. C. § 2000e (k) (2000).
124. 120 490 U. S. 642 (1989) (holding that to make a prima facie showing of illegal disparate racial impact, employees must "demonstrate that it is the application of a specific or particular employment practice that has created the disparate impact under attack"), superseded by statute, Civil Rights Act of 1991, Pub. L. No. 102-166, 105 Stat. 1071.
125. 121 See, e.g., W. Va. Univ. Hosp., Inc. v. Casey, 499 U. S. 83 (1991);
126. Lorance v. AT&T Techs., Inc., 490 U. S. 900 (1989);
127. Martin v. Wilks, 490 U. S. 755 (1989);
128. Patterson v. McLean Credit Union, 491 U. S. 164 (1989);
129. Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U. S. 228 (1989).
130. 122 See Guinier, supra note 9, at 121.
131. 123 The attitudinal model "holds that justices make decisions by considering the facts of the case in light of their ideological attitudes and values." See JEFFREY A. SEGAL and HAROLD J. SPAETH, THE SUPREME COURT AND the ATTITUDINAL MODEL 73 (1993).
132. 124 Jeffrey A. Segal and Albert D. Cover, Ideological Values and the Votes of U. S. Supreme Court Justices, 83 AM. POL. SCI. REV. 557, 561 (1989) (supporting the attitudinal model with a correlation between Justices' votes and independent measurements of their ideological values).
133. 125 SEGAL and SPAETH, supra note 123, at 69 (suggesting that the Supreme Court decides cases based on ideological preferences because of a lack of electoral accountability and the power to control its docket).
134. 126 Cass R. Sunstein, David Schkade, and Lisa Michelle Ellman, Ideological Voting on Federal Courts of Appeals: A Preliminary Investigation, 90 VA. L. REV. 301, 352 (2004).
135. 127 Guinier, supra note 9, at 16, 47.
136. 128 See id. at 40, 107.
137. 129 See ROSENBERG, supra note 1, at 156, 265 (arguing that empirical evidence shows that courts did not play a significant role in producing the civil rights and women's rights movements).
138. 130 See Gerald N. Rosenberg, Courting Disaster: Looking for Change in All the Wrong Places, 54 DRAKE L. REV. 795, 796 (2006).
139. 131 There is, however, a movement within the legal academy to bring the tools of social science into legal research. The movement includes the creation of the Empirical Legal Studies Blog (www.elsblog.org), the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, and the annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, first held in 2006.
140. 132 For a polemical attack on the insularity of legal scholarship, see Gerald N. Rosenberg, Across the Great Divide (Between Law and Political Science), 3 GREEN BAG 2d 267, 272 (2000) (arguing that legal academics are intellectually isolated from the political science field to their detriment).