1 Introduction: Supreme Court policy making What courts do Judges as policy makers Reasons for judicial policy making Fundamental law Distrust of governmental power Federalism Separation of powers Judicial review The mythology of judging The Federal and State Judicial Systems National supremacy The system of comity Sovereign immunity The full faith and credit clause Adequate and independent state grounds for decision Choice of law 2 Models of decision making: the legal model About models The legal model Plain meaning Legislative and framers' intent Precedent 3 Models of decision making: the attitudinal and rational choice models The legal realists The Behavioralists The psychological influence The economics influence The rational choice model The Supreme Court and rational choice theory The Marksist separation-of-powers model 4 A political history of the Supreme Court The first Supreme Court The Marshall Court Judicial supremacy National supremacy Federal power vis-à-vis that of the States The civil war era The Taney Court The case of Scott V. Sandford Reconstruction Military justice Civil rights Fighting the welfare state taxation Interstate commerce and other national powers Freedom of contract The court-packing plan The civil libeties agenda The preferred freedoms doctrine Incorporation of the Bill of rights First amendment freedoms Criminal procedure Equal protection Reapportionment The right to privacy The Supreme Court and the distribution of power, 1936-2000 The curtiss-wright case The japanese internment cases The steel seizure The watergate tapes case The legislative veto case The distribution of power at the millenium Summary of power at the millenium 5 Staffing the Court Presidential selection Factors affecting nomination Senate confirmation The case studies An aggregate analysis An individual-level analysis Presidential Influence 6 Getting into court Legal requirements Jurisdiction Standing to Sue Jurisdiction over the parties Case selection Procedure Criteria for selection Effects of denial or dismissal The Supreme Court's caseload Which cases for decision Individual-level models Aggregate-level models Future changes 7 The Decision on the merits: the legal model process Oral argument The conference The conference vote on the merits Fluidity and the attitudinal model The report (or final) vote on the merits Stare decisis Text and intent 8 The decision on the merits: the attitudinal and rational choice models The attitudinal model Facts Attitudes The separation-of-powers model Qualitative analyses and case studies Quantitative analyses Reexamining the separation-of-powers model Appendix 8.i: Deriving the set of irreversible decisions The basic model The extended model Application 9 Opinion assignment and opinion coalitions Opinion assignments Assignment patterns Equality Ideology Complicating factors Important cases Issue specialization Opinion assignments and opinion coalitions Opinion coalitions Voting and opinion options The politics of coalition formation Special concurrences Opinion assignees Opinion assigners Patterns of interagreement Who "Influences" Whom? 10 The Supreme Court and constitutional democracy Support for the solicitor general Declarations of unconstitutionality Federal administrative agencies Considerations of economic federalism Civil liberties Public opinion