Collaborative Research on the Effects of International Crises on Supreme Court Decisionmaking

自20世纪40年代以来，对最高法院的行为和决策过程产生了相当大的学术兴趣和研究。尽管学者们在法院决策的许多方面意见不一，但几乎所有人都是在有关司法程序本质的一些基本假设下运作的。其中之一涉及法院在外部危机时期的行为，在此期间，美国或其国民受到另一个国家的军事力量的威胁，如战争或其他外国对抗和争端。大多数最高法院学者的观点是，在动荡时期，最高法院对权利和自由的容忍度较低。这种观点已经在学术文献中根深蒂固，以至于成为“传统智慧”的一部分。然而，还没有系统的研究来确定假设的危机影响是否是一个有效的描述。这项研究将检验“危机”论点，该论点断言，在外部安全危机时期，法院对个人权利和自由问题更加不容忍。使用一个数据库，包括自19世纪初以来法院解决的涉及个人权利和自由的所有案件，将探索一些已知的宏观层面行为预测因素，以评估国际危机对决策的相对影响。独立变量包括当前党派对法院、总统职位和国会的控制；当事人的特点；以及外部安全危机的特点。该项目不仅将确定危机论文的有效性，而且还将绘制这一现象的轮廓，并发展其所依赖的理论命题。这项研究将最高法院嵌入到冲突和国家的一般理论中，并在此过程中融合了关于国家如何在内部应对来自境外的实际或威胁冲突的情况的理论和方法见解。与此相关的是，建立一个关于最高法院大约75年历史的纵向数据库将为其他学者提供机会，使他们能够深入了解法院的机构作用及其在政治制度中的地位，因为它随着时间的推移而演变和发展。最后，通过这种宏观层面的方法来观察政府的程序和行为，将为了解法律和政治机构的发展，特别是跨国条件的影响提供宝贵的见解。

Since the 1940s, there has been considerable scholarly interest and research on the behavior and decisionmaking processes of the Supreme Court. Although scholars disagree on numerous aspects of Court decisionmaking, almost all operate under some basic assumptions about the very nature of the judicial process. One of these involves Court behavior in times of external crisis, periods during which the United States or its nationals are threatened by the military forces of another state such as wars or other foreign confrontations and disputes. The view of most Court scholars is that the Court is less tolerant of rights and liberties during periods of turmoil. This view has become entrenched in the scholarly literature so as to make it part of the "conventional wisdom." Yet, there has been no systematic research to determine whether the hypothesized impact of crises is a valid portrayal. This study will test the "crisis" thesis which asserts that the Court is more intolerant toward issues of individual rights and liberties during times of external security crises. Using a data base consisting of all cases involving individual rights and liberties resolved by the Court since the early 1800s, a number of known predictors of macro-level behavior will be explored to assess the relative effect of international crises on decisionmaking. Independent variables include measures of current partisan control of the Court, the presidency, and the Congress; characteristics of the litigants; and characteristics of the external security crises. This project not only will determine the validity of the crisis thesis, but also it will map the contours of this phenomenon and develop the theoretical propositions upon which it rests. The research imbeds the Supreme Court in a general theory of conflict and the state and in doing so blends theoretical and methodological insights about how the state responds internally to conditions of actual or threatened conflict imposed from beyond its borders. Relatedly, the creation of a longitudinal database on the Supreme Court over approximately seventy-five years will provide the opportunity for other scholars to make inroads into understanding the Court's institutional role and its place within the political regime as it has evolved and developed over time. Finally, viewing governmental processes and behavior through this macro-level approach will provide valuable insights into the development of legal and political institutions and, in particular, the influence of transnational conditions.