Teena Wilhelm
Biographic Data
| ID | 4180217 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Teena Wilhelm |
| GIVEN NAMES | Teena |
| FAMILY NAME | Wilhelm |
| SIGNATURE | WILHELM T |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Georgia |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8719-8851 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 105 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Judicial Institutions, Independence, and the Separation of Powers
We study the separation of powers between judicial and legislative institutions among the American states. Building upon previous studies, we consider how judicial selection/accountability mechanisms affect the judicial-legislative separation of powers game. We specify game theoretic models that consider these issues. Our formal models demonstrate that judicial elections can empower courts by providing them with direct signals of legitimacy from …
Redistricting and Party Loyalty in the State Supreme Courts
In this research, we examine redistricting plan review by state supreme courts to determine what factors influence party-aligned voting in judicial decisions. We analyze whether judicial selection systems matter, as well as the ideological extremism of judges. Our judge-level data includes votes on redistricting cases heard across the American states from 1961 to 2022. We find that judges who are ideologically extreme are more likely to cast part…
Gendered Policy Leadership in the Judicial Branch
In most states, the chief justice is tasked with leading the judiciary and working within the political environment to address its shortcomings. This requires public advocacy that emphasizes the needs of the justice system and appropriate reforms. Given the increase of gender diversity among judicial leaders in the American states in recent decades, the extent to which male and female chief justices approach these duties differently is an importa…
Case Salience in the State Supreme Courts: A Research Update
In this research, we update the measure of case salience for state supreme courts originally developed by Vining and Wilhelm (2011). The original measure was compatible with the Brace-Hall State Supreme Court Data Project (SSCDP) and covered 1995 through 1998. Our updated measure is now compatible with the Hall–Windett Data on State Supreme Court Outcomes (2013), a more contemporary source for state supreme court information. Here we discuss the …
Diversity in Judicial Leadership in the American States
Chief Justice Selection Rules and Judicial Ideology
We examine how institutional selection procedures affect the ideology of state supreme court chief justices. We argue that institutional selection methods empower those charged with choosing chief justices to select court leaders who reflect their own preferences, and we test this theory using data from all 50 American states from 1970 to 2017. Our results show that states that use popular elections to select chief justices tend to produce court …
Updating Pajid Scores for State Supreme Court Justices (1970–2019)
We build upon Brace, Langer, and Hall’s (2000, The Journal of Politics 62: 387–413) original measure of American state supreme court justice ideology – the PAJID scores. To do so, we gather new data on 1,666 state supreme court justices who served between 1970 and 2019 and update the PAJID scores throughout this period. Testing indicates that PAJID scores are a valid measure of state supreme court justices’ policy preferences and compare favorabl…
Judicial Reform in the American States: The Chief Justice as Political Advocate
The state courts of last resort are vital components of American judicial system, disposing of many important legal matters. The chief justices of these courts serve consequential roles in these institutions. Although scholars have examined the selection and duties of states’ chief justices, their interactions with the elected branches are understudied. We focus on how chief justices on state high courts use their roles to encourage judicial refo…
The Chief Justice as Effective Administrative Leader: The Impact of Policy Scope and Interbranch Relations
Objectives We examine the conditions under which the Chief Justice of the United States achieves congressional approval for his requests for institutional reforms to the federal courts. Specifically, we investigate whether legislators are more likely to enact these requests when they are limited in scope and members of Congress are similar ideologically to the chief justice or federal judiciary. Methods Our analysis uses the chief justice's Year‐…
The Politics of the U.S. Federal Judiciary's Requests for Institutional Reform
Objectives We ask whether the requests the federal judiciary makes to Congress are conditioned either on political factors or on its actual institutional needs. Methods . We build a new measure of the yearly well‐being of the federal courts from 1978 through 2013 using factor analysis. We specify two formal models to generate testable hypotheses that help to untangle equilibria behavior resulting from competing claims on judicial preferences for …
A Market-Based Model of State Supreme Court News: Lessons from Capital Cases
In this article, we present and test a market-based model of news content about state courts of last resort. We test our theory by examining newspaper coverage of decisions in death penalty cases. Our empirical results indicate that news elements of drama, novelty, and sensationalism influence coverage of state high courts' death penalty cases rather than traditional indicators of legal salience. News content either anywhere in a newspaper or on …
Campus Teaching Awards, Academic Year 2012–13
APSA is pleased to recognize the recipients of campus-wide and departmental awards for teaching excellence during the 2012–13 academic year. Pi Sigma Alpha sponsored these recipients at the Reception Honoring Teaching at the APSA Annual Meeting in Chicago
Policy Venues and Policy Change: The Case of Education Finance Reform
Objective In the U . S . states, policy development can occur in multiple venues. In fact, the likelihood of policy success may be directly related to the policy arena chosen by advocates. In this article, we examine those conditions under which policy reform results in success within education finance reform. Method We model the likelihood that successful reform may take place via courts, legislatures, or referenda, and whether it occurs over mu…
Measuring Case Salience in State Courts of Last Resort
Scholars recognize that both citizens and elites may alter their behavior in response to salient stimuli. Epstein and Segal’s (2000) measure of salience for the United States Supreme Court provided a valid and reproducible way to assess the political salience of cases. No comparable measure exists for state high courts. The authors introduce a measure of case salience for state supreme courts that is comprehensive and similar to the Epstein-Segal…
Case Visibility and the Electoral Connection in State Supreme Courts
Critics traditionally portray state Supreme Court elections as low-information events that fail to accomplish the stated goal of engendering accountability to the public. Recent changes in the intensity of contestable judicial elections have led scholars to consider the effect of public opinion on state court decision making. We delineate necessary conditions for judicial responsiveness to public opinion, integrating research on state court decis…
The Causes and Consequences of Gubernatorial Endorsements: Evidence From State Supreme Court Elections
Governors are generally the best-known figures in state politics. They have many roles, including service as political leaders in their states. One aspect of this role is the promotion of their favored policies and electoral candidates. We examine why governors endorse candidates for state-level office using data from partisan and nonpartisan state supreme court elections from 1999 to 2008. We examine both decisions to endorse and whether endorse…
Explaining High-Profile Coverage of State Supreme Court Decisions: Explaining Coverage of State Supreme Court Decisions
Objective. In this article, we investigate the decision of media in the U.S. states to give high-profile coverage to state supreme court decisions. While research on the U.S. Supreme Court has forged an association between media coverage and the political salience of court decisions, scholars have been unable to examine such coverage in the increasingly important state courts of last resort. Methods. Utilizing new data of high-profile coverage ov…
Strange Bedfellows: The Policy Consequences of Legislative—Judicial Relations in the American States
This research examines the relationship between courts and legislatures in a comparative perspective. Specifically, I examine how (a) the ideological composition of the bench, (b) the propensity of court involvement in a given policy area, and (c) the disposition of court decisions in a given policy area influence the ideology of bill introductions and policy enactments by state legislatures. By examining HMO regulation and education policy in th…
The Policymaking Role of State Supreme Courts in Education Policy
In this article, I examine the relationship between courts and legislatures from a comparative perspective. Specifically, I discuss how (1) the ideological composition of the bench, (2) the propensity of court involvement in a given policy area, and (3) the presence of an advisory opinion affect the number of bill introductions and policy enactments by state legislatures. Examination of education policy in the American states reveals that ideolog…
Measuring Case Salience in State Courts of Last Resort
Scholars recognize that both citizens and elites may alter their behavior in response to salient stimuli. Epstein and Segal’s (2000) measure of salience for the United States Supreme Court provided a valid and reproducible way to assess the political salience of cases. No comparable measure exists for state high courts. The authors introduce a measure of case salience for state supreme courts that is comprehensive and similar to the Epstein-Segal…
Case Visibility and the Electoral Connection in State Supreme Courts
Critics traditionally portray state Supreme Court elections as low-information events that fail to accomplish the stated goal of engendering accountability to the public. Recent changes in the intensity of contestable judicial elections have led scholars to consider the effect of public opinion on state court decision making. We delineate necessary conditions for judicial responsiveness to public opinion, integrating research on state court decis…
Explaining High-Profile Coverage of State Supreme Court Decisions: Explaining Coverage of State Supreme Court Decisions
Objective. In this article, we investigate the decision of media in the U.S. states to give high-profile coverage to state supreme court decisions. While research on the U.S. Supreme Court has forged an association between media coverage and the political salience of court decisions, scholars have been unable to examine such coverage in the increasingly important state courts of last resort. Methods. Utilizing new data of high-profile coverage ov…
Judicial Reform in the American States: The Chief Justice as Political Advocate
The state courts of last resort are vital components of American judicial system, disposing of many important legal matters. The chief justices of these courts serve consequential roles in these institutions. Although scholars have examined the selection and duties of states’ chief justices, their interactions with the elected branches are understudied. We focus on how chief justices on state high courts use their roles to encourage judicial refo…
Updating Pajid Scores for State Supreme Court Justices (1970–2019)
We build upon Brace, Langer, and Hall’s (2000, The Journal of Politics 62: 387–413) original measure of American state supreme court justice ideology – the PAJID scores. To do so, we gather new data on 1,666 state supreme court justices who served between 1970 and 2019 and update the PAJID scores throughout this period. Testing indicates that PAJID scores are a valid measure of state supreme court justices’ policy preferences and compare favorabl…
The Policymaking Role of State Supreme Courts in Education Policy
In this article, I examine the relationship between courts and legislatures from a comparative perspective. Specifically, I discuss how (1) the ideological composition of the bench, (2) the propensity of court involvement in a given policy area, and (3) the presence of an advisory opinion affect the number of bill introductions and policy enactments by state legislatures. Examination of education policy in the American states reveals that ideolog…
A Market-Based Model of State Supreme Court News: Lessons from Capital Cases
In this article, we present and test a market-based model of news content about state courts of last resort. We test our theory by examining newspaper coverage of decisions in death penalty cases. Our empirical results indicate that news elements of drama, novelty, and sensationalism influence coverage of state high courts' death penalty cases rather than traditional indicators of legal salience. News content either anywhere in a newspaper or on …
Chief Justice Selection Rules and Judicial Ideology
We examine how institutional selection procedures affect the ideology of state supreme court chief justices. We argue that institutional selection methods empower those charged with choosing chief justices to select court leaders who reflect their own preferences, and we test this theory using data from all 50 American states from 1970 to 2017. Our results show that states that use popular elections to select chief justices tend to produce court …
Diversity in Judicial Leadership in the American States
Case Salience in the State Supreme Courts: A Research Update
In this research, we update the measure of case salience for state supreme courts originally developed by Vining and Wilhelm (2011). The original measure was compatible with the Brace-Hall State Supreme Court Data Project (SSCDP) and covered 1995 through 1998. Our updated measure is now compatible with the Hall–Windett Data on State Supreme Court Outcomes (2013), a more contemporary source for state supreme court information. Here we discuss the …
Policy Venues and Policy Change: The Case of Education Finance Reform
Objective In the U . S . states, policy development can occur in multiple venues. In fact, the likelihood of policy success may be directly related to the policy arena chosen by advocates. In this article, we examine those conditions under which policy reform results in success within education finance reform. Method We model the likelihood that successful reform may take place via courts, legislatures, or referenda, and whether it occurs over mu…
Strange Bedfellows: The Policy Consequences of Legislative—Judicial Relations in the American States
This research examines the relationship between courts and legislatures in a comparative perspective. Specifically, I examine how (a) the ideological composition of the bench, (b) the propensity of court involvement in a given policy area, and (c) the disposition of court decisions in a given policy area influence the ideology of bill introductions and policy enactments by state legislatures. By examining HMO regulation and education policy in th…
The Chief Justice as Effective Administrative Leader: The Impact of Policy Scope and Interbranch Relations
Objectives We examine the conditions under which the Chief Justice of the United States achieves congressional approval for his requests for institutional reforms to the federal courts. Specifically, we investigate whether legislators are more likely to enact these requests when they are limited in scope and members of Congress are similar ideologically to the chief justice or federal judiciary. Methods Our analysis uses the chief justice's Year‐…
The Politics of the U.S. Federal Judiciary's Requests for Institutional Reform
Objectives We ask whether the requests the federal judiciary makes to Congress are conditioned either on political factors or on its actual institutional needs. Methods . We build a new measure of the yearly well‐being of the federal courts from 1978 through 2013 using factor analysis. We specify two formal models to generate testable hypotheses that help to untangle equilibria behavior resulting from competing claims on judicial preferences for …
The Causes and Consequences of Gubernatorial Endorsements: Evidence From State Supreme Court Elections
Governors are generally the best-known figures in state politics. They have many roles, including service as political leaders in their states. One aspect of this role is the promotion of their favored policies and electoral candidates. We examine why governors endorse candidates for state-level office using data from partisan and nonpartisan state supreme court elections from 1999 to 2008. We examine both decisions to endorse and whether endorse…
The Policymaking Role of State Supreme Courts in Education Policy
In this article, I examine the relationship between courts and legislatures from a comparative perspective. Specifically, I discuss how (1) the ideological composition of the bench, (2) the propensity of court involvement in a given policy area, and (3) the presence of an advisory opinion affect the number of bill introductions and policy enactments by state legislatures. Examination of education policy in the American states reveals that ideolog…
Strange Bedfellows: The Policy Consequences of Legislative—Judicial Relations in the American States
This research examines the relationship between courts and legislatures in a comparative perspective. Specifically, I examine how (a) the ideological composition of the bench, (b) the propensity of court involvement in a given policy area, and (c) the disposition of court decisions in a given policy area influence the ideology of bill introductions and policy enactments by state legislatures. By examining HMO regulation and education policy in th…
Explaining High-Profile Coverage of State Supreme Court Decisions: Explaining Coverage of State Supreme Court Decisions
Objective. In this article, we investigate the decision of media in the U.S. states to give high-profile coverage to state supreme court decisions. While research on the U.S. Supreme Court has forged an association between media coverage and the political salience of court decisions, scholars have been unable to examine such coverage in the increasingly important state courts of last resort. Methods. Utilizing new data of high-profile coverage ov…
Policy Venues and Policy Change: The Case of Education Finance Reform
Objective In the U . S . states, policy development can occur in multiple venues. In fact, the likelihood of policy success may be directly related to the policy arena chosen by advocates. In this article, we examine those conditions under which policy reform results in success within education finance reform. Method We model the likelihood that successful reform may take place via courts, legislatures, or referenda, and whether it occurs over mu…
Measuring Case Salience in State Courts of Last Resort
Scholars recognize that both citizens and elites may alter their behavior in response to salient stimuli. Epstein and Segal’s (2000) measure of salience for the United States Supreme Court provided a valid and reproducible way to assess the political salience of cases. No comparable measure exists for state high courts. The authors introduce a measure of case salience for state supreme courts that is comprehensive and similar to the Epstein-Segal…
Case Visibility and the Electoral Connection in State Supreme Courts
Critics traditionally portray state Supreme Court elections as low-information events that fail to accomplish the stated goal of engendering accountability to the public. Recent changes in the intensity of contestable judicial elections have led scholars to consider the effect of public opinion on state court decision making. We delineate necessary conditions for judicial responsiveness to public opinion, integrating research on state court decis…
The Causes and Consequences of Gubernatorial Endorsements: Evidence From State Supreme Court Elections
Governors are generally the best-known figures in state politics. They have many roles, including service as political leaders in their states. One aspect of this role is the promotion of their favored policies and electoral candidates. We examine why governors endorse candidates for state-level office using data from partisan and nonpartisan state supreme court elections from 1999 to 2008. We examine both decisions to endorse and whether endorse…
Campus Teaching Awards, Academic Year 2012–13
APSA is pleased to recognize the recipients of campus-wide and departmental awards for teaching excellence during the 2012–13 academic year. Pi Sigma Alpha sponsored these recipients at the Reception Honoring Teaching at the APSA Annual Meeting in Chicago
A Market-Based Model of State Supreme Court News: Lessons from Capital Cases
In this article, we present and test a market-based model of news content about state courts of last resort. We test our theory by examining newspaper coverage of decisions in death penalty cases. Our empirical results indicate that news elements of drama, novelty, and sensationalism influence coverage of state high courts' death penalty cases rather than traditional indicators of legal salience. News content either anywhere in a newspaper or on …
The Politics of the U.S. Federal Judiciary's Requests for Institutional Reform
Objectives We ask whether the requests the federal judiciary makes to Congress are conditioned either on political factors or on its actual institutional needs. Methods . We build a new measure of the yearly well‐being of the federal courts from 1978 through 2013 using factor analysis. We specify two formal models to generate testable hypotheses that help to untangle equilibria behavior resulting from competing claims on judicial preferences for …
The Chief Justice as Effective Administrative Leader: The Impact of Policy Scope and Interbranch Relations
Objectives We examine the conditions under which the Chief Justice of the United States achieves congressional approval for his requests for institutional reforms to the federal courts. Specifically, we investigate whether legislators are more likely to enact these requests when they are limited in scope and members of Congress are similar ideologically to the chief justice or federal judiciary. Methods Our analysis uses the chief justice's Year‐…
Judicial Reform in the American States: The Chief Justice as Political Advocate
The state courts of last resort are vital components of American judicial system, disposing of many important legal matters. The chief justices of these courts serve consequential roles in these institutions. Although scholars have examined the selection and duties of states’ chief justices, their interactions with the elected branches are understudied. We focus on how chief justices on state high courts use their roles to encourage judicial refo…
Chief Justice Selection Rules and Judicial Ideology
We examine how institutional selection procedures affect the ideology of state supreme court chief justices. We argue that institutional selection methods empower those charged with choosing chief justices to select court leaders who reflect their own preferences, and we test this theory using data from all 50 American states from 1970 to 2017. Our results show that states that use popular elections to select chief justices tend to produce court …
Updating Pajid Scores for State Supreme Court Justices (1970–2019)
We build upon Brace, Langer, and Hall’s (2000, The Journal of Politics 62: 387–413) original measure of American state supreme court justice ideology – the PAJID scores. To do so, we gather new data on 1,666 state supreme court justices who served between 1970 and 2019 and update the PAJID scores throughout this period. Testing indicates that PAJID scores are a valid measure of state supreme court justices’ policy preferences and compare favorabl…
Case Salience in the State Supreme Courts: A Research Update
In this research, we update the measure of case salience for state supreme courts originally developed by Vining and Wilhelm (2011). The original measure was compatible with the Brace-Hall State Supreme Court Data Project (SSCDP) and covered 1995 through 1998. Our updated measure is now compatible with the Hall–Windett Data on State Supreme Court Outcomes (2013), a more contemporary source for state supreme court information. Here we discuss the …
Diversity in Judicial Leadership in the American States
Redistricting and Party Loyalty in the State Supreme Courts
In this research, we examine redistricting plan review by state supreme courts to determine what factors influence party-aligned voting in judicial decisions. We analyze whether judicial selection systems matter, as well as the ideological extremism of judges. Our judge-level data includes votes on redistricting cases heard across the American states from 1961 to 2022. We find that judges who are ideologically extreme are more likely to cast part…
Gendered Policy Leadership in the Judicial Branch
In most states, the chief justice is tasked with leading the judiciary and working within the political environment to address its shortcomings. This requires public advocacy that emphasizes the needs of the justice system and appropriate reforms. Given the increase of gender diversity among judicial leaders in the American states in recent decades, the extent to which male and female chief justices approach these duties differently is an importa…
Judicial Institutions, Independence, and the Separation of Powers
We study the separation of powers between judicial and legislative institutions among the American states. Building upon previous studies, we consider how judicial selection/accountability mechanisms affect the judicial-legislative separation of powers game. We specify game theoretic models that consider these issues. Our formal models demonstrate that judicial elections can empower courts by providing them with direct signals of legitimacy from …
Judicial and Constitutional Studies (17 works) · Law (17 works) · Political science (17 works) · Politics (14 works) · Supreme court (12 works) · Law (11 works) · Legal and Constitutional Studies (11 works) · Law, Economics, and Judicial Systems (9 works) · State supreme court (9 works) · Public Administration (8 works)