Public Support for the Supreme Court in the Obama Era: Expectancy Theory and the Replacement of Justice Souter

奥巴马时代公众对最高法院的支持：预期理论与苏特大法官的更替

• 批准号: 0943389
• 负责人: James Gibson
• 金额: $ 4万
• 依托单位: Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-08-01 至 2010-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0943389&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Public; Support; Supreme; Court; Obama

The attitudes citizens hold toward judicial institutions are of great political significance. Social scientists are now generally in agreement that few forms of political capital are as useful to political institutions as legitimacy, and no institution is more dependent upon legitimacy than the judiciary. The conventional view is that courts have neither the power of the purse nor of the sword and are therefore dependent upon the voluntary compliance that typically springs from legitimacy. But the truth is that, however useful legitimacy may be to courts, no political institution could be effective without some mechanism for inducing citizens to believe that accepting its policy outputs is the right thing to do. Using a nationwide survey, the PI will investigate public attitudes about the Supreme Court in light of the recent nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Justice Stephen G. Breyer. Specifically, the PI will test the hypothesis that attention-getting judicial events (such as the nomination of Sotomayor to the Court) will activate dormant attitudes toward law and courts. The findings from this study will enhance understanding of the dynamics of public opinion and the courts as well as provide unique insights into the process by which members of the federal judiciary are selected.

公民对司法机构的态度具有重要的政治意义。社会科学家现在普遍同意，很少有政治资本的形式能像合法性那样对政治机构有用，没有任何机构比司法机构更依赖合法性。传统观点认为，法院既没有金钱的力量，也没有刀剑的力量，因此依赖于通常来自合法性的自愿服从。但事实是，无论合法性对法院多么有用，如果没有某种机制引导公民相信接受其政策产出是正确的，任何政治机构都不可能有效。通过一项全国性的调查，PI将调查公众对最高法院的态度，因为最近提名索尼娅·索托马约尔（Sonia Sotomayor）填补斯蒂芬·G·金（Stephen G.布雷耶具体来说，PI将测试这一假设，即引起关注的司法事件（如提名索托马约尔进入最高法院）将激活对法律和法院的休眠态度。这项研究的结果将加强对公众舆论和法院动态的理解，并为联邦司法机构成员的甄选过程提供独特的见解。