Answering the Call of the Court: How Justices and Litigants Set the Supreme Court Agenda

241 Pages·2007·1.4 MB·English

by  Vanessa A. Baird

Answering
the Call of
the Court
Constitutionalism
and Democracy
gregg ivers and
kevin t. mcguire,
editors
Answering
HOW JUSTICES
AND LITIGANTS
the Call of
SET THE
SUPREME
the Court
COURT
AGENDA
Vanessa A. Baird
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA PRESS CHARLOTTESVILLE AND LONDON
University ofVirginia Press
© 2007 by the Rector and Visitors ofthe University ofVirginia
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States ofAmerica on acid-free paper
First published 2007
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
library of congress cataloging-in-publication data
Baird, Vanessa A., 1970–
Answering the call ofthe court : how justices and litigants set the Supreme Court
agenda / Vanessa A. Baird.
p. cm. — (Constitutionalism and democracy)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn-13: 978-0-8139-2582-0 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. United States. Supreme Court. 2. Judicial process—United States. 3. Political
questions and judicial power—United States. I. Title.
kf8742.b295 2006
347.73'26—dc22
2006020915
To Mary,
Eda,
Winifred,
and Lisa
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The law will never
make men free; it
is men who have
got to make the
law free.
HENRY DAVID
THOREAU,
MARCH 30, 1851
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1 The Supreme Court in the U.S. Legal System: Appeals and
Case Selection 17
2 Explaining the Supreme Court’s Policy Cycles 33
3 Immigrants’ Rights, Welfare, and Federalism 73
4 Cyclical Patterns on the Supreme Court’s Agenda 83
5 Corroborative Analyses: The Political and Legal Context ofthe
Supreme Court 121
6 The Impact ofModerate Justices’ Preferences on the Ideological
Placement ofFuture Cases 147
Conclusions 175
Notes 187
References 201
Index 219