The Partisan Foundations of Attitudes Towards State Supreme Courts

Bibliographic Data

ID12419933
AuthorsEugenia Artabe (University of Houston - Downtown), Alex Badas (0000-0002-6379-0375, University of Houston), Lucía López (0009-0007-5542-1012, University of Houston), L Gómez López (University of Houston)
Year2025
Publication date2025-11-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Research Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1065-9129 • E-ISSN: 1938-274X
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/10659129251393668
OpenAlexW4415828492
LanguageEN
References cited55

State supreme courts have become increasingly salient as the U.S. Supreme Court has deferred more politically contentious questions to the states. Yet, despite growing scholarly attention to state high courts, we know relatively little about how the public evaluates them. We argue that perception of a state court’s partisan composition is an important factor shaping public attitudes. Using a nationally representative survey, we find that individuals who believe their state supreme court has more in-party justices feel better represented, view the court’s decision-making as more grounded in legal formalism, and rate the court as more legitimate. Conversely, perceiving more out-party justices is associated with feeling less represented, stronger belief in legal realism, and lower legitimacy ratings. These findings contribute to the literature on state courts by showing that perceptions of partisan makeup are central to understanding how the public evaluates state supreme courts

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