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Signals from the Tenth Justice: The Political Role of the Solicitor General in Supreme Court Decision Making

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  • Michael A. Bailey
  • Brian Kamoie
  • Forrest Maltzman

Abstract

Conventional explanations of the solicitor general's influence on the Supreme Court emphasize his expertise or experience. We articulate and test a more political account based on insights from signaling theory. We argue justices will be more receptive to signals from the solicitor general (S.G.) when either the justice and S.G. are ideologically proximate or the S.G.'s signal is contrary to his ideological predisposition. We test our account over the period from 1953 to 2002 using a newly developed interinstitutional measure of ideology that places executive and judicial actors on the same spatial scale. Our results highlight the political nature of the S.G.'s influence, challenging the received wisdom about the S.G.'s impact on the Supreme Court.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael A. Bailey & Brian Kamoie & Forrest Maltzman, 2005. "Signals from the Tenth Justice: The Political Role of the Solicitor General in Supreme Court Decision Making," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 49(1), pages 72-85, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:49:y:2005:i:1:p:72-85
    DOI: 10.1111/j.0092-5853.2005.00111.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Justin Wedeking, 2010. "Supreme Court Litigants and Strategic Framing," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(3), pages 617-631, July.
    2. Meckling, Jonas & Nahm, Jonas, 2019. "The politics of technology bans: Industrial policy competition and green goals for the auto industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 470-479.
    3. Paul Hofmarcher & Sourav Adhikari & Bettina Grun, 2022. "Gaining Insights on U.S. Senate Speeches Using a Time Varying Text Based Ideal Point Model," Papers 2206.10877, arXiv.org.
    4. Lee Epstein & Eric A. Posner, 2016. "Supreme Court Justices' Loyalty to the President," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 45(2), pages 401-436.
    5. Ryan J. Owens, 2010. "The Separation of Powers and Supreme Court Agenda Setting," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(2), pages 412-427, April.
    6. Ronald Mann & Michael Fronk, 2021. "Assessing the Influence of Amici on Supreme Court Decision Making," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(4), pages 700-741, December.
    7. Yonatan Lupu & James H. Fowler, 2013. "Strategic Citations to Precedent on the U.S. Supreme Court," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(1), pages 151-186.
    8. Scott Simon Boddery & Damon Cann & Laura Moyer & Jeff Yates, 2023. "The role of cable news hosts in public support for Supreme Court decisions," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(4), pages 1045-1069, December.
    9. Kevin A. Clarke, 2009. "Return of the Phantom Menace," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 26(1), pages 46-66, February.
    10. Shor, Boris & McCarty, Nolan, 2010. "The Ideological Mapping of American Legislatures," Papers 8-11-2010, Princeton University, Research Program in Political Economy.
    11. Scott S. Boddery, 2019. "Signals from a politicized bar: the solicitor general as a direct litigant before the U.S. Supreme Court," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 194-210, June.

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