Judicial Independence and Interbranch Conflict in the American States

在界定美国各州政府的三权分立制度中，政府的三个分支都扮演着重要的角色。虽然司法部门一直被认为是对立法和行政部门的多数派权力的制衡，但州立法机构和行政部门有能力通过限制法院的立法来挑战州最高(或高级)法院的权威。限制法院的措施包括缩短大法官的任期，允许对司法裁决进行立法审查，以及取消司法审查权。这项立法旨在限制州法院的权力，并表明其他部门对司法裁决的反对。因此，该项目将审查各州限制法院的立法，这将提供有关哪个部门控制美国各州的政策结果以及司法独立程度的重要信息。该项目将收集并公开2005至2015年间美国各州所有限制法院的立法和宪法司法裁决的原始数据集。对数据的分析将集中在立法和行政部门如何使用限制法院的措施来约束州高等法院，以及此类立法是否通过限制司法审查权力来影响司法决策。诸如司法遴选方法等体制规则将在统计分析中予以审议。大多数先前关于各州司法独立的研究主要涉及法官的遴选和保留。取而代之的是，这个项目将专注于限制法院的立法，以审查司法独立、部门间冲突以及各州如何平衡其立法、行政和司法权力。

All three branches of government play an important role within the system of separation of powers that defines government in the American states. While the judicial branch has been thought to be a check on the majoritarian power of the legislative and executive branches, state legislatures and executives have the ability to challenge the authority of state supreme (or high) courts through court-curbing legislation. Examples of court-curbing measures include shortening the terms of justices, allowing legislative review of judicial decisions, and eliminating the power of judicial review. This legislation is designed to limit the power of state courts, and to demonstrate the other branches' disapproval with judicial decisions. Consequently, this project will examine court-curbing legislation in the states, which will provide significant information on which branch controls policy outcomes in the American states, and on the extent of judicial independence.This project will collect and make publicly available an original dataset on all court-curbing legislation and constitutional judicial decisions in the American states between 2005 and 2015. Analysis of the data will focus on how legislative and executive branches use court-curbing measures to constrain state high courts, and whether such legislation influences judicial decision making by limiting the power of judicial review. Institutional rules such as methods of judicial selection will be considered within the statistical analysis. Most prior research on judicial independence in the states primarily involves the selection and retention of judges. Instead, this project will focus on court-curbing legislation in order to examine judicial independence, interbranch conflict, and how states balance their legislative, executive and judicial powers.