Restraining the Court: Assessing Accounts of Congressional Attempts to Limit Supreme Court Authority

Alyx Mark, Michael A. Zilis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

We propose a multilevel account of legislative Court curbing in order to assess existing explanations as to why such proposals come about. We argue that although Court curbing is commonly seen as the result of institutional conflict between Congress and the Supreme Court, it is best understood as a product of three interrelated factors: the individual motivations on the part of lawmakers, the partisan context in which they operate, and institutional disagreements between Court and legislature. We find evidence that micro-level factors offer an important insight into Court curbing that institution-focused explanations alone cannot.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)141-169
Number of pages29
JournalLegislative Studies Quarterly
Volume43
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 1 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Washington University in St. Louis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Sociology and Political Science

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