Why read The Supreme Court and the Attitudinal Model Revisited?

Book cover of The Supreme Court and the Attitudinal Model Revisited

Book description

This book, authored by two leading scholars of the Supreme Court and its policy making, systematically presents and validates the use of the attitudinal model to explain and predict Supreme Court decision making. In the process, it critiques the two major alternative models of Supreme Court decision making and their…

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Topics

The Supreme Court

Genres

Political

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Supreme Court and the Attitudinal Model Revisited as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Gerald N. Rosenberg

Author

How do Supreme Court justices make decisions? Law students are taught that justices apply a consistent and principled jurisprudence to examine the facts of the case before them, precedent, and the statue or constitutional provision at issue.

Segal and Spaeth argue that this understanding is a myth. Rather, they argue that Supreme Court justices base their decisions on their attitudes, values, and political preferences. Using the highly reliable US Supreme Court Judicial Data Base, compiled by Professor Spaeth, their analysis explains and predicts Supreme Court decisions with a stunning degree of accuracy.

Their conclusion is that debates over originalism, judicial…

From Gerald's list on The best books on how the U.S. Supreme Court really works (it’s much less powerful than you think!).