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The Supreme Outlier: How SCOTUS Stands Out Among Global Apex Courts

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  • Keren Weinshall

Abstract

How a country’s apex court functions and how its justices decide cases is shaped by its institutional design and history and by the political and cultural context in which it sits. I compare the apex courts of 38 Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, finding that the power and role of the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) makes it unique among them. SCOTUS’s appointment process, lifelong judicial terms, agenda-setting powers, consensus norms, and constitutional framework make it an exceptionally powerful and exceptionally partisan court. Further, several factors that encourage a tendency toward the protection of rights in other apex courts are less relevant to SCOTUS. This comparison highlights that SCOTUS is the most partisan of the OECD apex courts, among the most powerful, and relatively less likely than other courts to uphold core democratic principles.

Suggested Citation

  • Keren Weinshall, 2024. "The Supreme Outlier: How SCOTUS Stands Out Among Global Apex Courts," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 713(1), pages 240-259, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:713:y:2024:i:1:p:240-259
    DOI: 10.1177/00027162251335749
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