Monday 10 am -12 noon, Wednesday 11 am - 12 noon

Pound Hall 204

Professor Edward P. Schwartz

Wednesday, September 6:

Introductory Remarks. No reading.

Monday, September 11:

Distinguishing between Formalist, Behavioral, and Strategic Approaches.

1.      Deciding to Decide: Chapters 1 and 2.

2.      The Supreme Court and the Attitudinal Model: Chapters 1-3.

3.      The Choices Justices Make: Chapters 1 and 2.

Wednesday, September 13:

How could we tell who's right?

1.      "Symposium: The State of the Field, 1996," (various authors) from the Law and Courts Section Newsletter (Spring 1996).

Monday, September 18:

Granting Certiorari: The Legal Process Model.

1.      Deciding to Decide: pp. 41-112; 216-292.

Wednesday, September 20:

Is the Cert vote really a vote on the merits?

1.      The Supreme Court and the Attitudinal Model: Chapter 5.

2.      Songer, Donald. 1979. "Concern for Policy Outputs As a Cue for Supreme Court Decisions on Certiorari.' (41JOP 1185-94).

Monday, September 25:

Strategic Voting on Certiorari.

1.      Deciding to Decide: pp. 113-215.

2.      The Choices Justices Make: pp. 56-65, 79-88, 118-125.

Wednesday, September 27:

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Are there really "aggressive grants" and "defensive denials?"

1.      Boucher and Segal. "Supreme Court Justices as Strategic Decision-makers: Aggressive Grants and Defensive Denials on the Vinson Court." (57(3) JOP 824-837.

Monday, October 2:

Decisions on the Merits.

1.      The Supreme Court and the Attitudinal Model: Chapters 6 and 8.

2.      The Choices Justices Make: pp. 66-79.

Wednesday, October 4:

Is that all there is?

1.      George and Epstein. "On the Nature of Supreme Court Decision-making." (86(2) APSR 323-337).

2.      Mishler, William and Reginald S. Sheehan. 1993. "The Supreme Court as a Countermajoritarian Institution: The Impact of Public Opinion on Supreme Court Decisions".  (87 APSR 87-101).

3.      The Choices Justices Make: pp. 157-163.

4.      The Supreme Court and the Attitudinal Model: Chapter 10.

Monday, October 9:

Columbus Day and Yom Kippur - No class.

Wednesday, October 11:

Opinion Assignment and Patterns of Influence.

1.      The Supreme Court and the Attitudinal Model: Chapter 7.

2.      The Choices Justices Make: pp. 88-95 125-135.

3.      Maltzman and Wahlbeck. "May it Please the Chief? Opinion Assignments in the Rehnquist Court." (40(2) AJPS 421-443).

Monday, October 16:

Does Precedent Matter on the Supreme Court?

1.      Segal and Spaeth, "The Influence of Stare Decisis on the Voted of United States Supreme Court Justices," (40(4) AJPS 971-1003).

2.      The Choices Justices Make: pp. 163-177.

Wednesday, October 18:

Of course it does!

1.      Knight and Epstein, "The Norm of Stare Decisis," (40(4) AJPS 1018-1035).

2.      Brenner and Stier, "Retesting Segal and Spaeth's Stare Decisis Model," (40(4) AJPS 1036-1048).

3.      Segal and Spaeth "Norms, Dragons, and Stare Decisis: A Response," (40(4) AJPS 1064-1082).

Monday, October 23:

The Unique Position of the Solicitor General.

1.      Segal, Jeffrey 1990. "Supreme Court Support for the Solicitor General: The Effect of Presidential Appointments". (43 West Pol Q 137-152).

2.      Yates and Whitford. 1998. "Presidential Power and the United States Supreme Court". (51 Pol Res Q 539-550).

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Wednesday, October 25:

Is it influence, experience, or accommodation?

1.      McGuire, Kevin T. "Repeat Players in the Supreme Court: The Role of Experienced Lawyers in Litigation Success." (57 JOP 187).

2.      Deen, et al. "Presidential Influence on the Supreme Court: Solicitor General as Amicus" (manuscript).

Monday, October 30:

Flyout Week. No Class.

Wednesday, November 1:

Flyout Week. No Class.

Monday, November 6:

Beyond Voting: Crafting Supreme Court Opinions.

1.      The Choices Justices Make: pp. 95-107.

2.      Wahlbeck, Spriggs and Maltzman. "Marshalling the Court: Bargaining and Accommodation on the United States Supreme Court." (42(1) AJPS 294-315).

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Wednesday, November 8:

Norms of Consensus on the Supreme Court.

1.      Walker, et al. "On the Mysterious Demise of Consensual Norms in the United States Supreme Court." (50(2) JOP 361-389).

2.      Epstein, et al. "The Norm of  Consensus on the U.S. Supreme Court," (manuscript)

3.      Schwartz, Edward. "The Concurrence Game." (manuscript).

Monday, November 13:

Supreme Court Nomination and Confirmation. .

1.      The Supreme Court and the Attitudinal Model: Chapter 4.

2.      Caldeira and Smith. "Campaigning for the Supreme Court: The Dynamics of Public Opinion on the Thomas Nomination." (58(3) JOP 655-681).

Wednesday, November 15:

Is it political ideology or legal competence that matters?

1.      Segal, et al. "A Spatial Model of Roll Call Voting: Senators, Constituents, Presidents, and Interest Groups." (36(1) AJPS 96-121).

Monday, November 20:

Ideological  Behavior on the Circuit Courts of Appeals.

1.      Cross and Tiller. "Judicial Partisanship and the Obedience to Legal Doctrine: Whistleblowing on the Federal Courts of Appeal," (107 Yale Law Journal 2155-2176).

2.      Revesz, Richard. "Environmental Regulation, Ideology and the D.C. Circuit," (83 Virginia Law Review 1717).

3.      Edwards, Harry T. "Collegiality and Decision-Making on the D.C. Circuit," 84 Va.L.Rev. 1335-1370.

4.      Revesz, Richard. "Ideology, Collegiality, and the D.C. Circuit: A Reply to Chief Judge Harry T. Edwards," (85(5) Virginia Law Review 805-851).

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Wednesday, November 22:

Do Appeals Courts respond to Supreme Court Precedent?

1.      Songer, et al. "The Hierarchy of Justice: Testing a Principal-Agent Model of Supreme Court-Circuit Court Interactions." (38(3) AJPS 673-696).

Monday, November 27:

Do race and  gender affect judicial attitudes?

1.      Songer, et al. "A Reappraisal of Diversification in the Federal Courts: Gender Effects in the Courts of Appeals." (56(2) JOP 425-439).

2.      Crowe, Nancy. "Diversity on the Federal Bench: The Effect of Judges' Sex and Race on Judicial Decision Making" (manuscript).

Wednesday, November 29:

Decision-making by State Supreme Court Judges.

1.      Brace and Hall. "Integrated Models of Judicial Dissent." (55(4) JOP 914-935).

2.      Hall, Melinda Gann. "Electoral Politics and Strategic Voting in State Supreme Courts." (54(2) JOP 427-446).

Monday, December 4:

Separation of Powers Games.

1.      The Choices Justices Make: pp. 138-157.

2.      Ferejohn, and Weingast. "A Positive Theory of Statutory Interpretation", (12 Int. Rev. Law and Econ. 263-279).

3.      Gely and Spiller "A Rational Choice Theory of Supreme Court Statutory Decisions with Applications to the State Farm and Grove City Cases." (6 JLEO, 263-300).

Wednesday, December 6:

Are Courts really constrained?

1.      Segal. "Separation-of-Powers Games in the Positive Theory of Congress and Courts". (91 APSR 28-44).

2.      Bergera, et al. "Judicial Politics and the Econometrics of Preferences," (manuscript).

Monday, December 11:

An integrative model.

1.      The Choices Justices Make: Chapter 6.

2.      Dharmapala and Schwartz. "A General Model of Judicial Decision-making: Ideology, Information, and Judicial Consistency." (manuscript).

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