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The Supreme Court's Many Median Justices

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  • LAUDERDALE, BENJAMIN E.
  • CLARK, TOM S.

Abstract

One-dimensional spatial models have come to inform much theorizing and research on the U.S. Supreme Court. However, we argue that judicial preferences vary considerably across areas of the law, and that limitations in our ability to measure those preferences have constrained the set of questions scholars pursue. We introduce a new approach, which makes use of information about substantive similarity among cases, to estimate judicial preferences that vary across substantive legal issues and over time. We show that a model allowing preferences to vary over substantive issues as well as over time is a significantly better predictor of judicial behavior than one that only allows preferences to vary over time. We find that judicial preferences are not reducible to simple left-right ideology and, as a consequence, there is substantial variation in the identity of the median justice across areas of the law during all periods of the modern court. These results suggest a need to reconsider empirical and theoretical research that hinges on the existence of a single pivotal median justice.

Suggested Citation

  • Lauderdale, Benjamin E. & Clark, Tom S., 2012. "The Supreme Court's Many Median Justices," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 106(4), pages 847-866, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:106:y:2012:i:04:p:847-866_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Amaral-Garcia Sofia & dalla Pellegrina Lucia & Garoupa Nuno, 2023. "Consensus and Ideology in Courts: An Application to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 19(2), pages 151-184, July.
    2. Keren Weinshall & Udi Sommer & Ya'acov Ritov, 2018. "Ideological influences on governance and regulation: The comparative case of supreme courts," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(3), pages 334-352, September.
    3. Greg Goelzhauser & David M Konisky, 2019. "The State of American Federalism 2018–2019: Litigation, Partisan Polarization, and the Administrative Presidency," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 49(3), pages 379-406.

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