Contemplating Courts

Published in 1995. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press
499 pp.
ISBN: 0-87187-983-2 (cloth)
ISBN: 0-87187-982-4 (paper)

Lee Epstein, editor

Description (from CQ Press)

Seventeen thought-provoking essays in this sophisticated yet accessible reader demonstrate how political scientists conduct research on law, courts, and the judicial process, and at the same time answer interesting, substantive questions. Illustrating the breadth and depth of judicial politics studies, the essays convey to students the array of contemporary thinking -- both theoretical and methodological -- at work in the field.

The book's five parts cover subjects taught in most judicial politics courses. Because each chapter stands alone, instructors have the flexibility of assigning less than the whole book or chapters in a different order. Topics examined range from information used by voters electing judges to the credibility of victims of sexualized violence.

Accessible to both undergraduate and graduate students, Contemplating Courts offers fascinating views into both the law and courts field and the research process itself. Epstein provides in the first chapter an overview of the key elements of judicial process research and defines key terms. Technical notes and methodology appendices offer students additional guidance.

Contents

Preface xi
Contributors xv

Chapter 1. Studying Law and Courts (.pdf)
Lee Epstein

Part I. ACTORS IN THE LEGAL SYSTEM

Chapter 2. Electing Judges
Lawrence Baum

Chapter 3. Lobbying for Justice: The Rise of Organized Conflict in the Politics of Federal Judgeships
Gregory A. Caldeira and John R. Wright

Chapter 4. Capital Investments in the U.S. Supreme Court: Winning with Washington Representation
Kevin T. McGuire

Chapter 5. The Mysterious Case of Establishment Clause Litigation: How Organized Litigants Foiled Legal Change
Joseph F. Kobylka

Part II. TRIAL COURTS

Chapter 6. Plea Bargaining and Local Legal Culture
Thomas W. Church

Chapter 7. Imagined Pasts: Sexualized Violence and the Revision of Truth
Kim Lane Scheppele

Chapter 8. The Fired Football Coach (Or, How Trial Courts Make Policy)
Lynn Mather

Part III. LOWER APPELLATE COURTS

Chapter 9. Patterns of Appellate Litigation, 1945-1990
Christine B. Harrington and Daniel S. Ward

Chapter 10. Decision Making on the U.S. Courts of Appeals
Jeffrey A. Segal, Donald R. Songer, and Charles M. Cameron

Part IV. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT

Chapter 11. The Dynamics and Determinants of Agenda Change in the Rehnquist Court
Richard L. Pacelie, Jr.

Chapter 12. By Consent of the Governed: Directions in Constitutional Theory
Leslie Friedman Goldstein

Chapter 13. The Attitudinal Model
Harold J. Spaeth

Chapter 14. The Role of the Supreme Court in American Society: Playing the Reconstruction Game (.pdf)
Lee Epstein and Thomas G. Walker

Part V. THE IMPACT OF COURTS

Chapter 15. Media, Knowledge, and Public Evaluations of the Supreme Court
Charles H. Franklin and Liane C. Kosaki

Chapter 16. Do Court Decisions Matter?
Lauren Bowen

Chapter 17. The Real World of Constitutional Rights: The Supreme Court and the Implementation of the Abortion Decisions
Gerald N. Rosenberg

REFERENCE MATERIAL

Appendix A: Regression and Pooled Cross-Sectional Time Series
David C. Nixon

Appendix B: Probit and Logit
David C. Nixon

Appendix C: Conducting Research on Law and Courts: Sources of Data

References

Table of Cases

Index