NCJ Number
120121
Journal
Judicature Volume: 73 Issue: 2 Dated: (August-September 1989) Pages: 103-107
Date Published
1989
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article presents findings on decisionmaking in the Warren and Burger Courts from data collected and compiled for the first phase of the Supreme Court Data Base Project.
Abstract
The project examines the Court's decisions, the votes of the justices, and the dissents of the justices in civil liberties and economic cases so as to document theoretical and empirical concerns previously addressed by scholars. Data show that conventional explanations for the Court's dramatic shift in support of civil liberties in the early 1960's lack accuracy. Also, the increase in the number of civil liberties cases decided by the Warren and Burger Courts did not occur at the expense of the Court's economic agenda. The theoretical reasons for excluding unanimous Court decisions from consideration lack validity even though empirical evidence shows little ideological difference between unanimous and nonunanimous decisions. Data indicate that the attitudinal, rather than the social-background model is consistent with the justices' dissent behavior. 7 tables, 34 footnotes.