Lower Court Disagreements as Cues for Agenda Setting in the High Court of Australia
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 17822367 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Russell Smyth (0000-0001-6593-5462, Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute), Patrick Leslie (0000-0002-9218-8981, Australian National University), Pat Leslie (Australian National University, corresponding author), Tonja Jacobi (0000-0002-5200-5765, Emory University), Zoë Robinson (0000-0002-9499-264X, Marquette University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-22 |
| Publication date | 2026-04-20 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Law and Courts (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2164-6589 • E-ISSN: 2164-6570 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/jlc.2026.10020 |
| OpenAlex | W7154978904 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 35 |
We extend cue theory to examine why and how dissent on the court below acts as a cue to apex courts in selecting the cases they hear. We posit that dissent on the court below is a cue to the apex court that the case involves complex legal issues. To test our predictions about how dissent on the court below affects the selection of cases and factors mediating and moderating this relationship, we use original data on 8,405 special leave applications to the High Court of Australia (2003–2018), finding evidence in support of cue theory
Audience participation · Dissent · High Court · Law of the case · Majority opinion · Precedent · Commonwealth, Australian Politics and Federalism · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Jury Decision Making Processes
The Limits of Legitimacy
What Do Judges and Justices Maximize? (The Same Thing Everybody Else Does)
Sophisticated voting and gate-keeping in the supreme court
Mediation
A general approach to causal mediation analysis.
Citing Outside the Law Reports
Setting the Supreme Court’s Policy Agenda
Institutional Design and the Predictability of Judicial Interruptions at Oral Argument
Judicial Ideology in the Absence of Rights
Behind the Bench
Conflict with Supreme Court Precedent and the Granting of Plenary Review
Panel selection on high courts
Comparative Exceptionalism? Strategy and Ideology in the High Court of Australia
Agenda Setting in the Supreme Court
Ideological Values and the Votes of U.S. Supreme Court Justices
Organized Interests and Agenda Setting in the U.S. Supreme Court
The Cue Theory of Supreme Court Certiorari Jurisdiction
Supreme Court Justices as Strategic Decision Makers
The “Odd Party Out” Theory of Certiorari
On the reputation of state supreme courts
Personal or political patronage? Judicial appointments and justice loyalty in the High Court of Australia
The Prestige of Australian State Supreme Courts Over the 20th Century
Policy Goals in Judicial Gatekeeping
The Decision to Grant or Deny Certiorari
The Dynamics of Political Control of the Bureaucracy
Strategic Auditing in a Political Hierarchy
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |