Title

Dissensual Decision Making: Revisiting the Demise of Consensual Norms within the US Supreme Court

Authors

Authors

M. E. Hendershot; M. S. Hurwitz; D. N. Lanier;R. L. Pacelle

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Polit. Res. Q.

Keywords

Supreme Court; norm of consensus; dissent; concurrence; agenda; Judiciary Act of 1925; UNITED-STATES; LEADERSHIP; JUSTICES; BURGER; Political Science

Abstract

This analysis seeks to understand the decline of Supreme Court consensual norms often attributed to the failed leadership of Chief Justice Stone. A new unit of analysis-justice-level dissent and concurrence rates-supports an alternative view of observed increases in dissensual decision making. When these measures are estimated with time-series techniques, results offer evidence of multiple changepoints in this norm of the Court that both lead and lag Stone's elevation. Broader contextual explanations related to the alteration of the Court's discretionary issue agenda and its ideological and demographic composition also contribute to fractures in the once-unanimous voting coalitions.

Journal Title

Political Research Quarterly

Volume

66

Issue/Number

2

Publication Date

1-1-2013

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

467

Last Page

481

WOS Identifier

WOS:000318265500017

ISSN

1065-9129

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