IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/socsci/v105y2024i2p147-159.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Justice Bork, or, be careful which supreme court nominees you choose to fight

Author

Listed:
  • Mikel Norris

Abstract

Objective This study uses counterfactual analysis to assess whether a hypothetical Supreme Court with Robert Bork as a member would have decided cases differently than the actual Supreme Court. Methods I utilize both a qualitative analysis, and a quantitative Bayesian counterfactual model to predict Supreme Court case outcomes from 1988 to 2012. Results The results show that several salient cases would have been decided differently, most of the decisions decided over the time frame would have remained unchanged. I also find that a hypothetical Supreme Court with Robert Bork as an associate justice would not have radically shifted rightward. Rather, the results show a brief rightward shift from 1991 to 1994, and a much longer and stronger rightward shift occurring after 2001. Conclusion The results suggest that scholars and pundits need to think more carefully about which Supreme Court nominees are should be contested in the advice and consent process – at least on political or ideological grounds.

Suggested Citation

  • Mikel Norris, 2024. "Justice Bork, or, be careful which supreme court nominees you choose to fight," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 105(2), pages 147-159, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:105:y:2024:i:2:p:147-159
    DOI: 10.1111/ssqu.13334
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.13334
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ssqu.13334?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stefano Costalli & Luigi Moretti & Costantino Pischedda, 2017. "The economic costs of civil war," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 54(1), pages 80-98, January.
    2. Iacus, Stefano M. & King, Gary & Porro, Giuseppe, 2012. "Causal Inference without Balance Checking: Coarsened Exact Matching," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 1-24, January.
    3. Stefano Costalli & Luigi Moretti & Costantino Pischedda, 2014. "The Economic Costs of Civil War: Synthetic Counterfactual Evidence and the Effects of Ethnic Fractionalization," HiCN Working Papers 184, Households in Conflict Network.
    4. Charles R. Shipan & Megan L. Shannon, 2003. "Delaying Justice(s): A Duration Analysis of Supreme Court Confirmations," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 47(4), pages 654-668, October.
    5. Brandt, Patrick T. & Freeman, John R., 2006. "Advances in Bayesian Time Series Modeling and the Study of Politics: Theory Testing, Forecasting, and Policy Analysis," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(1), pages 1-36, January.
    6. Robinson, Gregory & McNulty, John E. & Krasno, Jonathan S., 2009. "Observing the Counterfactual? The Search for Political Experiments in Nature," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(4), pages 341-357.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Olaf J de Groot & Carlos Bozzoli & Anousheh Alamir & Tilman Brück, 2022. "The global economic burden of violent conflict," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 59(2), pages 259-276, March.
    2. Elisabeth Lio Rosvold, 2020. "Disaggregated determinants of aid: Development aid projects in the Philippines," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 38(6), pages 783-803, November.
    3. Samer Matta & Michael Bleaney & Simon Appleton, 2022. "The economic impact of political instability and mass civil protest," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 253-270, March.
    4. Mohammad Reza Farzanegan, 2019. "The Opportunity Cost of the Islamic Revolution and War for Iran," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201929, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    5. Samba Diop & Simplice A. Asongu & Vanessa S. Tchamyou, 2021. "The Macroeconomic Impact of Recent Political Conflicts in Africa: Generalized Synthetic Counterfactual Evidence," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 21/060, African Governance and Development Institute..
    6. Alou Adessé Dama, 2021. "Exploring Tilly’s Theory : Violent Conflicts and Tax Revenue in Sub-Saharan Africa," CERDI Working papers hal-03401539, HAL.
    7. Martin Philipp Heger & Eric Neumayer, 2022. "Economic legacy effects of armed conflict: Insights from the civil war in Aceh, Indonesia," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 39(4), pages 394-421, July.
    8. Aleksandar Kešeljević & Rok Spruk, 2024. "Estimating the effects of Syrian civil war," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 66(2), pages 671-703, February.
    9. Julia Bluszcz & Marica Valente, 2022. "The Economic Costs of Hybrid Wars: The Case of Ukraine," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(1), pages 1-25, January.
    10. Katarzyna Metelska-Szaniawska, 2016. "Reassessing the Economic Effects of Post-Socialist Constitutions Using the Synthetic Control Method," Working Papers 2016-18, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    11. Halvard Buhaug & Jonas Vestby, 2019. "On Growth Projections in the Shared SocioeconomicPathways," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 19(4), pages 118-132, November.
    12. David Audretsch & Paul P. Momtaz & Hanna Motuzenko & Silvio Vismara, 2023. "The Economic Costs of the Russia-Ukraine War: A Synthetic Control Study of (Lost) Entrepreneurship," Papers 2303.02773, arXiv.org.
    13. Panel, Sophie & Pietri, Antoine, 2022. "God did not save the kings: Environmental consequences of the 1982 Falklands War," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    14. Joe Maganga Zonda & Chang-Ching Lin & Ming-Jen Chang, 2024. "On the economic costs of political instabilities: a tale of sub-Saharan Africa," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 66(1), pages 137-173, January.
    15. Alice Lépissier & Matto Mildenberger, 2021. "Unilateral climate policies can substantially reduce national carbon pollution," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 166(3), pages 1-21, June.
    16. Silvia Marchesi, 2016. "Life after default? Private vs. official sovereign debt restructurings," Development Working Papers 398, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano, revised 26 Aug 2016.
    17. David B. Audretsch & Paul P. Momtaz & Hanna Motuzenko & Silvio Vismara, 2023. "War and Entrepreneurship: A Synthetic Control Study of the Russia-Ukraine Conflict," CESifo Working Paper Series 10466, CESifo.
    18. Vesco, P. & Baliki, G. & Brück, T. & Döring, S. & Eriksson, A. & Fjelde, H. & Guha-Sapir, D. & Hall, J. & Knutsen, C. H. & Leis, M. R. & Mueller, H. & Rauh, C. & Rudolfsen, I. & Swain, A., 2024. "The Impacts of Armed Conflict on Human Development," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2462, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    19. Khusrav Gaibulloev & Javed Younas, 2016. "Conflicts and domestic bank lending," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 315-331, December.
    20. N. N. H. Nordin & W. N. Wan Husin & M. Z. Salleh & A. L. Harun, 2022. "The Role of Economic Activities in Enhancing the Acceptance of Lebanese Towards Malaysian Peacekeepers Through Good Governance as Mediator Variable," Asian Social Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 18(7), pages 1-9, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:105:y:2024:i:2:p:147-159. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0038-4941 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.