Political Hearings Reinforce Legal Norms
Confirmation Hearings and Views of the United States Supreme Court
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6340474 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Christopher Krewson (0000-0002-1286-1778, Brigham Young University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 76 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 418-431 |
| Publication date | 2023-03-01 |
| 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 | 10.1177/10659129221094877 |
| OpenAlex | W4280516332 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 17 |
| References cited | 28 |
Does the political nature of modern judicial confirmation hearings lead the public to think of the Supreme Court as a political body? Some political actors inevitably attack the institution during a confirmation hearing—which should lead to a decrease in support for it—but they attack the Court for acting extra-judicially. More generally, confirmation hearings send the American public an important and universal message: that the Supreme Court at least ought to be a legal institution. Based on original panel data closely surrounding the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, I find that confirmation hearings lead the public to place greater value on the non-political characteristics of a judge. While Supreme Court legitimacy reduced among Democrats over the course of the hearings, all respondents (including Democrats) became more likely to emphasize the importance of the legal qualities in a judge. For Democrats, the data suggests these two processes (reduced legitimacy and increased emphasis on a judge’s legal characteristics) worked independently. For Republicans—and consistent with positivity bias theory—enhanced legitimacy was predicted by a decrease in focus on the political aspects of a judge over the course of the confirmation hearing
Institution · Legitimacy · Majority opinion · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Supreme court · Supreme Court Decisions · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Legal and Constitutional Studies · Legal Education and Practice Innovations
Depictions of Partisan Bias at Oral Argument and Public Evaluations of the U.S. Supreme Court
Do Americans Understand the Judicial Philosophies They Endorse? Evidence From Mass and Elite Surveys
Lifetime Appointments, Lasting Reactions
Can the Supreme Court Generate Public Acceptance of Election Rulings? Politicized Appointments, Elite Norm Violations, and the 2020 Election
Going beyond Dobbs
Native Americans' support for supreme court legitimacy
Ad-dressing the bench
It All Begins With a Name
The Political Court
Mechanisms, measurements, and manifestations in evaluating the effects of confirmation hearings on Supreme Court legitimacy
The U.S. Supreme Court’s Legitimacy
Characters of Contention
Friendship is Rare
Public Approval of the Supreme Court and Its Implications for Legitimacy
The Influence of Descriptive Representation on Support for Judicial Nominees and the US Supreme Court
Losing legitimacy
Do the Effects of Unpopular Supreme Court Rulings Linger? The Dobbs Decision Rescinding Abortion Rights
Curbing the Court
Citizens, Courts, and Confirmations
Public Support for Judicial Philosophies
The Purpose of Senatorial Grandstanding during Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings
Validating the demographic, political, psychological, and experimental results obtained from a new source of online survey respondents
The Legitimacy of the US Supreme Court
Confirmation Politics and The Legitimacy of the U.S. Supreme Court
Public Views of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Aftermath of the Kavanaugh Confirmation
One Bad Apple Spoils the Bunch
Has Legal Realism Damaged the Legitimacy of the U.S. Supreme Court
Is the U.S. Supreme Court's Legitimacy Grounded in Performance Satisfaction and Ideology
The Changing Dynamics of Senate Voting on Supreme Court Nominees
Public Opinion and Senate Confirmation of Supreme Court Nominees
Political Justice
The American public's attitudes over how judges use legal principles to make decisions
Why Do People Accept Public Policies They Oppose? Testing Legitimacy Theory with a Survey-Based Experiment
How Political Signals Affect Public Support for Judicial Nominations
Partisans in Robes
Chief Justice Roberts's Health Care Decision Disrobed
On the Ideological Foundations of Supreme Court Legitimacy in the American Public
Measuring Attitudes toward the United States Supreme Court
Perceptions of a Polarized Court
Losing, but Accepting
| Unique citing works | 17 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4,25 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 17 |