The Impact of Permissive Judicial Policies

The U.S. Supreme Court and the Right to Die

Dados Bibliográficos

ID7352268
AutoresHenry R Glick (Florida State University, autor correspondente)
Ano1994
Volume47
Fascículo1
Páginas207-222
Data de publicação1994-03-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoPolitical Research Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1065-9129 • E-ISSN: 1938-274X
EditoraSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/106591299404700111
OpenAlexW1968636300
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências citadas15

Little research has examined the effects of permissive Supreme Court decisions that give lower courts, legislatures, and others very wide discretion in implementation. This research presents two main hypotheses that link the content of state policy before and after a permissive Supreme Court decision: (1) institutions whose previous policies exceed the scope of a new permissive Supreme Court decision will ignore the new policy and maintain their original course; (2) institutions whose previous policies lag a permissive Supreme Court ruling will innovate by altering their policies to meet but not exceed the new Supreme Court decision. A sub-hypothesis applicable to both of these hypotheses is: state political institutions that previously had no applicable policies, but adopt them following a permissive Supreme Court decision, will follow the main policy innovations chosen by their counterpart state institutions. Focusing on the right to die and the Supreme Court's Cruzan decision, the reserach confirms the hypotheses. The findings suggest that permissive Supreme Court policies have effects similar to other more directive decisions but also that permissive policies reinforce dominant patterns of state policy innovation

Certiorari · Discretion · Economics · Law and economics · Legislature · Majority opinion · Original jurisdiction · Permissive · Political science · Supreme court · Supreme Court Decisions · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Legal and Constitutional Studies · Policy Transfer and Learning