Small Group Influences in the United States Supreme Court

• NCJ Number: 113316
• Journal: The Justice System Journal Volume: 12 Issue: 3 Dated: (Winter 1987) Pages: 359-369
• Author(s): M G Hall
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 11 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This research tests the hypothesis, derived from small group theory, that subgroup membership in the United States Supreme Court is stable over time across all issues of public policy.

Abstract

Using cluster bloc analysis, two separate criteria (the Sprague criterion and the 70 percent criterion) for determining subgroup membership, and two different criteria for stability (100 percent continuity, and agreement a majority of the time) it was discovered that, contrary to the hypothesis, subgroup membership was not stable over time for the natural courts of the Warren Court and the Burger Court through 1978. Small group theory may not be as powerful an explanation of subgroup membership and stability in the Supreme Court as previously believed. (Publisher abstract)