Toward a Strategic Revolution in Judicial Politics
A Look Back, A Look Ahead
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6340253 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lee Epstein (0000-0001-5120-9005), Jack Knight (0000-0002-0367-0785, University of Washington) |
| Year | 2000 |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 625-661 |
| Publication date | 2000-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Political Research Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1065-9129 • E-ISSN: 1938-274X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591290005300309 |
| OpenAlex | W1971827531 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 78 |
| References cited | 80 |
As papers presented at recent disciplinary conferences and articles published in major political science journals reveal, the field of judicial politics is undergoing a sea change. Variants of the social-psychological paradigm, which have long dominated thinking about law and courts, are giving way to approaches grounded in assumptions in rationality. More to the point, ever-growing numbers of scholars are now invoking the strategic account to understand judicial politics. In what follows, we investigate this “strategic revolution.” We begin by providing an intellectual history of the field, with special emphasis on why judicial specialists resisted strategic analysis for so long and why they are now (re)turning to it in ever-increasing numbers. Next, we consider the ways that analysts have begun to put the strategic account to work. This is an important task, for debates are already emerging over the “best” way to invoke the account to study judicial politics. We take the position that there is no one “right” way but rather four different approaches-all of which have the potential to provide us with important insights into law and courts
Discipline · Economics · Field (mathematics · Judicial activism · Judicial opinion · Law and economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Position (finance · Rationality · Sociology · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Law, Economics, and Judicial Systems · Legal Education and Practice Innovations · Public Administration
A Neo-Institutional Explanation of State Supreme Court Responses in Search and Seizure Cases
Departures From the Court
Strategic Selection of Legal Instruments on the U.S. Supreme Court
Importa el derecho?”. Política judicial, realismo jurídico y el problema de la indeterminación del derecho en tanto que problema metodológico
Judicial Institutions
Law
Judges beyond Politics in Democracy and Dictatorship
Beyond Constitutionalism
Courts under Constraints
Professional vs. non-professional labour judges
Measuring the Countermajoritarian Nature of Supreme Court Decisions
Análisis Cualitativo Comparado
The Open Architecture of European Human Rights Law
When Organizations Rule
Judicial Review in a Defective Democracy
A Separation-of-Powers Approach to the Supreme Court’s Shrinking Caseload
The Czech Constitutional Court Database
Non-ideal theory of constitutional adjudication
Electoral Systems and Judicial Review in Developing Countries
Democratizing U.S. Courts
Courts and Horizontal Accountability in Hybrid Regimes
When the Logics of Media, Law, and Politics Collide
Glass Ceiling or Merit? Gender, Promotion, and Judicial Careers in a Civil Law System
(Re-)Setting the Scholarly Agenda on Transjudicial Communication
When “Best Practices” Win, Employees Lose
Ideology beyond partisanship
Judicial review and territorial conflicts
Constructing victimhood at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal
Judicial Decision Making and International Tribunals
Gender, Internal Armed Conflict, and High Court Decision-Making in Transitioning Societies
Power and Persuasion in Investment Treaty Interpretation
Clash of Paradigms
Judicial Activism in Perilous Times
Building the Bridge from Both Sides of the River
National Higher Courts and the Ratification of EU Treaties
The Realist Turn in Comparative Constitutional Politics
Doing Courts Justice? Studying Judicial Politics in Latin America
Unifying the field of comparative judicial politics
Historical Institutionalism and Judicial Decision-Making
Modeling Motivations
Reasoning on the Threshold
Federalism and Equality Rights Implementation in Canada
The institutionalization of relative advantage
Assessing the Applicability of Strategic Theory to Explain Decision Making on the Courts of Appeals
The New Judicial Politics of Legal Doctrine
Thesupremecourt Inamericanpolitics
Paths to the recognition of homo-parental adoptive rights in the EU-27
The Role of Constitutional Courts in the Establishment and Maintenance of Democratic Systems of Government
Across the Sloping Meadow Floor
Splitting the Difference
A Social Movement Model for Judicial Behavior
The theory of political coalitions.
The Puzzle of Judicial Behavior
A Course in Microeconomic Theory
Judicial Partisanship and Obedience to Legal Doctrine
Congressional Control or Judicial Independence
The Roosevelt Court
Overriding Supreme Court Statutory Interpretation Decisions
A positive theory of statutory interpretation
Sophisticated voting and gate-keeping in the supreme court
Beliefs, attitudes, and values
An economic theory of democracy
Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance
Cooperation under Anarchy
The Supreme Court as a Small Group
A Course in Microeconomic Theory
Comparative Politics and Rational Choice
Frontiers of Judicial Research
The Study of Public Law
Stare Decisis, Dissent, and the Background of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States
Congress and the Supreme Court
Personal Attribute Models of the Voting Behavior of U.S. Supreme Court Justices
A Survey Study of Hawaiian Judges
Ideological Values and the Votes of U.S. Supreme Court Justices Revisited
Role Perceptions and Behavior in Three U.S. Courts of Appeals
Organized Interests and Agenda Setting in the U.S. Supreme Court
The Game Theory of International Politics
An Empirical Test of the Rational-Actor Theory of Litigation
Electoral Politics and Strategic Voting in State Supreme Courts
"Thick Rationality and the Missing "Brute Fact
Public Law and Judicial Behavior
Role Theory and the Supreme Court
Toward a Theory of Sub-Group Formation in the United States Supreme Court
Dissent Behavior and the Social Background of Supreme Court Justices
Supreme Court Justices as Strategic Decision Makers
Constituent Influence in State Supreme Courts
Law-Making in the State Judiciary
What Judges Want
The Supreme Court and Federal Administrative Agencies
Behavioral Tendencies in the Three-Judge District Court
Marshalling the Court
Fluidity on the United States Supreme Court
Time Binding and Theory Building in Personal Attribute Models of Supreme Court Voting Behavior, 1916-88
The Hierarchy of Justice
May It Please the Chief? Opinion Assignments in the Rehnquist Court
Social Background as an Indicator to the Votes of Supreme Court Justices in Criminal Cases
On the Struggle for Judicial Supremacy
Judicial Role Perceptions
Are Social Background Models Time-Bound
Constitutional Law in 1927-1928
Political Jurisprudence, the "New Institutionalism," and the Future of Public Law
On the Nature of Supreme Court Decision Making
The Study of Judicial Decision-Making as an Aspect of Political Behavior
Separation-of-Powers Games in the Positive Theory of Congress and Courts
Strategic Policy Considerations and Voting Fluidity on the Burger Court
Voting Behavior on the United States Courts of Appeals, 1961-1964
The 1960 Term of the Supreme Court
Political Orientations, Social Backgrounds, and Role Perceptions of State Supreme Court Judges
Order in the Courts
Judges' Role Orientations, Attitudes, and Decisions
A Method for Evaluating the Distribution of Power in a Committee System
| Unique citing works | 51 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,12 |
| Citation span | 2001 - 2025 (25) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 74 |