November 5, 2007

A Glance at the November Issue of the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies: The Supreme Court in a Polarized America

By Jason M. Breslow

Despite their differences on just about every other issue, Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, have always been able to agree on the legitimacy of the Supreme Court, says James L. Gibson, a professor of political science at Washington University in St. Louis. As earlier research indicates, he writes, "the institution enjoys a fairly substantial 'reservoir of goodwill' among the American people." Since 2000, though, partisanship in the United States has reached a near