Making courts matter: Politics and the implementation of state supreme court decisions

University of Chicago Law Review

Volumn 79, Issue 1, 2012, Pages 1-29

  Berry, Christopher ^a   Wysong, Charles ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO   (United States)

^b STANFORD LAW SCHOOL   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84862572446     PISSN: 00419494     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (91)

1. Federalist 78 (Hamilton), in The Federalist 521, 522 (Wesleyan 1961) (Jacob E. Cooke, ed).
2. See generally Gerald N. Rosenberg, The Hollow Hope: Can Courts Bring About Social Change? (Chicago 1991).
3. See, for example, Michael J. Klarman, Rethinking the Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Revolutions, 82 Va L Rev 1, 7-18 (1996); (Pubitemid 126408571)
4. Cornell W. Clayton and J. Mitchell Pickerill, The Politics of Criminal Justice: How the New Right Regime Shaped the Rehnquist Court's Criminal Justice Jurisprudence, 94 Georgetown L J 1385, 1411-23 (2006);
5. Michael J. Klarman, How Great Were the "Great" Marshall Court Decisions?, 87 Va L Rev 1111, 1113-53, 1181-82 (2001); (Pubitemid 33656659)
6. Robert G. McCloskey, The American Supreme Court 13-25, 224-29 (Chicago 1960);
7. Robert A. Dahl, Decision-Making in a Democracy: The Supreme Court as a National Policy-Maker, 6 J Pub L 279, 284-86 (1957).
8. Chambers v Florida, 309 US 227, 241 (1940).
9. For explicit responses to the revisionist critique, see, for example, Michael McCann, How the Supreme Court Matters in American Politics: New Institutionalist Perspectives, in Howard Gillman and Cornell Clayton, eds, The Supreme Court in American Politics 63, 63-76 (Kansas 1999);
10. James F. Spriggs II, The Supreme Court and Federal Administrative Agencies: A Resource-Based Theory and Analysis of Judicial Impact, 40 Am J Pol Sci 1122, 1123-32, 1137-43 (1996).
11. See also generally, for example, David J. Garrow, Hopelessly Hollow History: Revisionist Devaluing of Brown v. Board of Education, 80 Va L Rev 151 (1994). (Pubitemid 24767901)
12. For a collection of essays debating consequences of Supreme Court decisions, see generally David A. Schultz, ed, Leveraging the Law: Using the Courts to Achieve Social Change (Peter Lang 1998).
13. 347 US 483 (1954).
14. See, for example, Rosenberg, Hollow Hope at 70 (cited in note 2);
15. Gerald N. Rosenberg, Brown Is Dead! Long Live Brown! The Endless Attempt to Canonize a Case, 80 Va L Rev 161, 163-67, 171 (1994). (Pubitemid 24767902)
16. See, for example, Paul Finkelman, Book Review, Civil Rights in Historical Context: In Defense of Brown, 118 Harv L Rev 973, 1017-29 (2005);
17. Morton J. Horwitz, The Warren Court and the Pursuit of Justice 15 (Hill & Wang 1998);
18. Jack Greenberg, Crusaders in the Courts: How a Dedicated Band of Lawyers Fought for the Civil Rights Revolution 264-362 (Basic Books 1994).
19. See, for example, Michael J. Klarman, Brown, Racial Change, and the Civil Rights Movement, 80 Va L Rev 7, 10-11 (1994); (Pubitemid 24767900)
20. Mark Tushnet, Some Legacies of Brown v. Board of Education, 90 Va L Rev 1693, 1693-96, 1705-20 (2004).
21. 411 US 1 (1973)
22. See John C. Eastman, Reinterpreting the Education Clauses in State Constitutions, in Martin R. West and Paul E. Peterson, eds, School Money Trials: The Legal Pursuit of Educational Adequacy 55-64 (Brookings 2007).
23. For an up-to-date state-by-state catalog of school-funding lawsuits, see National Education Access Network, online at http://www.schoolfunding.info/ (visited Oct. 24, 2011).
24. 487 P2d 1241 (Cal 1971).
25. This data is based on West and Peterson, School Money Trials at 345-58 (cited in note 13).
26. "Equity" and "Adequacy" School Funding Liability Court Decisions (National Access Network 2008), online at http://www. schoolfunding.info/litigation/equityandadequacytable.pdf (visited Oct. 24, 2011).
27. See, for example, James E. Ryan and Thomas Saunders, Foreword to Symposium on School Finance Litigation: Emerging Trends or Dead Ends?, 22 Yale L & Pol Rev 463, 468-80 (2004).
28. See, for example, William S. Koski, The Politics of Judicial Decision-Making in Educational Policy Reform Litigation, 55 Hastings L J 1077, 1104-1227 (2004).
29. See, for example, Sheila E. Murray, William N. Evans, and Robert M. Schwab, Education-Finance Reform and the Distribution of Education Resources, 88 Am Econ Rev 789, 806 (1998) (examining data from 1972 to 1992 and finding inequality reduced by 19 to 34 percent).
30. See also David Card and A. Abigail Payne, School Finance Reform, the Distribution of School Spending, and the Distribution of Student Test Scores, 83 J Pub Econ 49, 64-67 (2002) (examining data from 1977 to 1992 and finding that "states in which the supreme court found the school financing system unconstitutional have altered their funding systems so as to redistribute aid to lower income districts").
31. See Murray, Evans, and Schwab, 88 Am Econ Rev at 790 (cited in note 20).
32. See Card and Payne, 83 J Pub Econ at 49 (cited in note 20). David Card and Abigail Payne also demonstrate that only court decisions in which the school-financing system is found unconstitutional affect spending, whereas cases in which a state's system is challenged but upheld have no measurable effects, suggesting that the decision itself has a causal impact on funding.
33. Murray, Evans, and Schwab, 88 Am Econ Rev at 807 (cited in note 20).
34. See generally Katherine Baicker and Nora Gordon, The Effect of State Education Finance Reform on Total Local Resources, 90 J Pub Econ 1519 (2006) (examining county-level data from 1982 to 1997 estimating that SFJs result in a $48 per capita increase in state education spending, but a $51 per capita reduction in other intergovernmental transfers from the state).
35. Card and Payne, 83 J Pub Econ at 50 (cited in note 20) (noting that increases in state aid cause local governments to reduce taxes, generating a net increase of only fifty to sixty-five cents).
36. Matthew G. Springer, Keke Liu, and James W. Guthrie, The Impact of School Finance Litigation on Resource Distribution: A Comparison of Court-Mandated Equity and Adequacy Reforms?, 17 Educ Econ 421, 436-41 (2009).
37. Christopher Berry, The Impact of School Finance Judgments on State Fiscal Policy, in West and Peterson, eds, School Money Trials 213, 222-33 (cited in note 13).
38. 790 SW2d 186 (Ky 1989).
39. See Koski, 55 Hastings L J at 1084-87 (cited in note 19).
40. See William S. Koski, The Evolving Role of the Courts in School Reform Twenty Years after Rose, 98 Ky L J 789, 790-91 (2009).
41. See generally, for example, Davis v South Dakota, 2011 WL 3849864 (SD);
42. Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding, Inc v Rell, 990 A2d 206 (Conn 2008);
43. Roosevelt Elementary School District No 66 v Bishop, 877 P2d 806 (Ariz 1994);
44. Skeen v Minnesota, 505 NW2d 299 (Minn 1993);
45. McDuffy v Secretary of Executive Office of Education, 615 NE2d 516 (Mass 1993);
46. Abbot v Burke, 575 A2d 359 (NJ 1990).
47. For a discussion of the different underlying conceptualizations of resource distribution in equity and adequacy lawsuits, see Anna Williams Shavers, Rethinking the Equity vs. Adequacy Debate: Implications for Rural School Finance Reform Litigation, 82 Neb L Rev 133, 146-60 (2003).
48. See Springer, Liu, and Guthrie, 17 Educ Econ at 421 (cited in note 26);
49. Berry, School Finance Judgments at 222-27 (cited in note 27).
50. See, for example, Murray, Evans, and Schwab, 88 Econ L Rev at 801-04 (cited in note 20).
51. See Caroline M. Hoxby, All School Finance Equalizations Are Not Created Equal, 116 Q J Econ 1189, 1191-97 (2001).
52. See, for example, Rose, 790 SW2d at 215.
53. We exclude fifteen cases from West and Peterson based on the content of the cases. For a complete listing of all of the significant school-finance judgments from 1971 to 2005, see West and Peterson, eds, School Money Trials at 345-58 (cited in note 13).
54. These cases are Kasayulie v Alaska, 1999 WL 34793400 (Alaska Super) (facilities);
55. Crane Elementary School District v Arizona, No 1 CA-CV 04-0076 (Ariz Ct App 2006) (capital funding);
56. Hull v Albrecht, 950 P2d 1141 (Ariz 1997)
57. and 960 P2d 634 (Ariz 1998) (capital funding);
58. Roosevelt Elementary School District Number 66 v Bishop, 877 P2d 806 (Ariz 1994) (capital funding);
59. Haley v Colorado Department of Education, No 02-CV-5149 (CO, Denver County District Court, 2002) (special education);
60. Idaho Schools for Equal Educational Opportunity v Idaho, 129 P3d 1199 (Idaho 2005) (facilities);
61. School Administrative District No 1 v Commissioner, Department of Education, 659 A2d 854 (Me 1995) (upholding method for reducing funding);
62. Durant v Michigan, 566 NW2d 272 (Mich 1997) (special education);
63. Board of Education of the City of Millville v New Jersey Department of Education, 872 A2d 1052 (NJ 2005) (preschool);
64. Abbott v Burke, 748 A2d 82 (NJ 2000) (preschool);
65. Zuni Public School District v New Mexico, No CV-98-14-II (NM, McKinley County District Court, May 26, 1999) (facilities);
66. Tennessee Small School Systems v McWherter, 894 SW2d 734 (Tenn 1995);
67. Tennessee Small School Systems v McWherter, 91 SW3d 232 (Tenn 2002) (teacher salaries);
68. and Neeley v West Orange-Cove Consolidated Independent School District, 176 SW3d 746 (Tex 2005) (addressing property taxes, not school funding).
69. We include two cases that settled with an agreement for reform: Mock v Kansas, No 91-CV-1009 (KS, Shawnee County District Court, Oct. 14, 1991)
70. Philip C. Kissam, Constitutional Thought and Public Schools: An Essay on Mock v. State of Kansas, 31 Washburn L J 474, 489-504 (1992);
71. and Minneapolis Branch of the NAACP v Minnesota, No 95-14800 (Minn, Hennepin County Dist Ct 2000)
72. consolidated with Xiong v Minnesota, No 98-2816 (Minn, Hennepin County Dist Ct 2000).
73. National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data, online at http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/bat/ (visited Oct. 24, 2011) (providing demographic and fiscal information about public elementary and secondary schools).
74. US Census Bureau, Public School Finance Data, online at http://www.census.gov/govs/school/ (visited Oct. 24, 2011) (providing finance data, including revenues, expenditures, debt, and assets, for elementary and secondary public school systems).
75. Murray, Evans, and Schwab, 88 Am Econ Rev at 795 (cited in note 20).
76. US Census Bureau, Model-Based Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, online at http://www.census.gov/did/www/saipe/ (visited Oct. 24, 2011).
77. Additionally, for 1989 and 2005, the district demographic information comes from National Center for Education Statistics, School District Demographics System, online at http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sdds/index.aspx (visited Oct. 24, 2011).
78. US Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2007 253 table 400, online at http://www.census.gov/prod/2006pubs/07statab/election.pdf (visited Feb. 15, 2011);
79. US Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1990 259 table 434, online at http://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/1990-01.pdf (visited Feb. 15, 2011).
80. National Governors Association, Past Governors Bios, online at http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios.html (visited Oct. 24, 2011).
81. National Center for Education Statistics, Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education: School Year 2008-09 (Fiscal Year 2009) 5(2011), online at http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011329.pdf (visited Oct. 24, 2011).
82. A notable exception is Hawaii, which has the nation's only entirely state-run school system. See Hawai'i State Department of Education, Introduction, Organization, online at http://doe.k12.hi.us/about/intro-org.htm (visited Oct. 24, 2011).
83. Card and Payne, 83 J Pub Econ 49, 50 (cited in note 20).
84. But see Baicker and Gordon, 90 J Pub Econ at 1532 (cited in note 24).
85. James M. Poterba, Demographic Structure and the Political Economy of Public Education, 16 J Pol Analysis & Mgmt 48, 49 (1997).
86. Adolf Wagner, Three Extracts on Public Finance, in Richard A. Musgrave and Alan T. Peacock, eds, Classics in the Theory of Public Finance 1, 7 (Macmillan 1958).
87. For a more general analysis of the role of district racial composition in school-finance litigation, see generally James E. Ryan, The Influence of Race in School Finance Reform, 98 Mich L Rev 432 (1999).
88. See Berry, School Finance Judgments at 214, 227-31 (cited in note 27).
89. See, for example, Berry, School Finance Judgments at 233 (cited in note 27);
90. Card and Payne, 83 J Pub Econ at 66 (cited in note 20).
91. But see Murray, Evans, and Schwab, 88 Am Econ Rev at 806 (cited in note 20). High poverty does not necessarily imply low spending, so the results in Table 2 do not speak directly to the issue of spending inequality.