Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-s22k5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-06T03:20:56.281Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The American Supreme Court and Electoral Realignment: A Critical Review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

John B. Gates
John B. Gates*
Affiliation:
University of Maryland at College Park
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In attempting to understand more fully the U.S. Supreme Court’s impact on national policymaking, scholars have examined Supreme Court policymaking as part of the “relatively cohesive alliances that endure for long periods of time” (Dahl, 1957: 280). These alliances or “party systems” represent relatively distinctive patterns in the general shape of national policy (Chambers and Burnham, 1975). It is common for historians to characterize the Jacksonian party system of 1828-1860 as a period in American history when national policy was aimed at aiding agrarian interests, or the First and Second Republican party systems in the later part of the nineteenth century as periods when national policy favored the rising industrial and financial interests. The change from one party system to another is the result of a process political scientists and historians have termed “partisan realignment” (Key, 1955). Periods of realignment in American politics are marked by a rapid change in the social and political agenda, which results in a significant and durable change in the party support in the electorate as well as in a significant change in institutional roles and national policy (Burnham, 1970; Jahnige, 1971; Sundquist, 1973; Trilling and Campbell, 1980). The new party balance may give rise to a shift from the dominance of one party to another, or an entirely new party system may develop. A relationship between mass electoral behavior and public policy appears to exist during periods of partisan realignment. The elections that produce this change in the party systems are termed “critical elections.”

Type
Research Article
Information
Social Science History , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , Summer 1984 , pp. 267 - 290
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 1984 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abraham, H. (1974) Justices and Presidents. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Adamany, D. (1980) “The Supreme Court’s role in critical elections,” pp. 299–257 in Campbell, B. and Trilling, R. (eds.) Realignment in American Politics. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Adamany, D. (1977) “Public and activists attitudes toward the U.S. Supreme Court.” Presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association.Google Scholar
Adamany, D. (1973) “Legitimacy, realigning elections, and the Supreme Court.” Wisconsin Law Rev. 3: 790–846.Google Scholar
Arnold, T. (1935) The Symbols of Government. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Beck, P. (1976) “Communication—critical elections and the Supreme Court: putting the cart after the horse.” Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev. 70: 930–932.Google Scholar
Berger, R. (1977) Government by Judiciary. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. PressGoogle Scholar
Brady, D. (1978) “Critical elections, congressional parties, and clusters of policy changes.” British J. of Pol. Sci. 8: 78.Google Scholar
Adamany, D. and Stewart, J. (1982) “Congressional party realignment and transformations of public policy in three realigning eras.” Amer. J. of Pol. Sci. 26: 333.Google Scholar
Burnham, W. D. (1970) Critical Elections and the Mainsprings of American Politics. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Caldeira, G. A. and McCrone, D. J. (1982) “Of time and judicial activism: a study of U.S. Supreme Court, 1800-1973,” pp. 103–127 in Halpern, S. and Lamb, C. (eds.) Supreme Court Activism and Restraint. Lexington: D.C. Heath.Google Scholar
Campbell, A., Converse, P. P., Miller, W. E. and Stokes, D. E. (1960) The American Voter. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Canon, B. and Ulmer, S. S. (1976) “Communication—the Supreme Court and critical elections: a dissent.” Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev. 70: 1215–1218.Google Scholar
Casper, J. (1976) “The Supreme Court and national policy making.” Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev. 70: 50–63.Google Scholar
Chambers, W. N. and Burnham, W. D. (1975) The Amreican Party Systems: Stages of Political Development. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Clubb, J., Flanagan, W., and Zingale, N. (1980) Partisan Realignment. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Corwin, E. S. (1936) “The Constitution as instrument and as symbol.” Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev. 30: 1072–1094.Google Scholar
Dahl, R. (1957) “Decision-making in a democracy: the Supreme Court as a national policymaker.” J. of Public Law 6: 279–295.Google Scholar
Dolbeare, K. and Hammond, P. (1968) “The political party basis of attitudes toward-the Supreme Court.” Public Opinion Q. 32: 16–30.Google Scholar
Dubois, P. (1980) From Ballot to Bench. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Funston, R. (1975) “The Supreme Court and critical elections.” Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev. 69: 795–811.Google Scholar
Ginsberg, B. (1976) “Elections and public policy.” Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev. 70: 41–49.Google Scholar
Goldman, S. (1975) “Voting behavior on the U.S. Court of Appeals, revisited.” Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev. 69: 491–506.Google Scholar
Handberg, R. and Hill, H. (1980) “Court-curbing, court reversal, and judicial review: the Supreme Court versus Congress.” Law and Society Rev. 14: 309–322.Google Scholar
Jahnige, T. P. (1971) “Critical elections and social change: towards a dynamic explanation of national party competition in the United States.” Policy 4: 465–500.Google Scholar
Jonson, C. A. (1982) “Content analytic techniques and judicial research.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association.Google Scholar
Key, V. O. (1959) “Secular realignment and the party system.” J. of Politics 21: 198–227.Google Scholar
Key, V. O. (1955) “A theory of critical elections.” J. of Politics 17: 4–23.Google Scholar
Krippendorff, K. (1980) Content Analysis: An Introduction to its Methodology. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Kutler, S. I. (1968) Judicial Power and Reconstruction Politics. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Library of Congress (1979) The Constitution of the United States: Analysis and Interpretation. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Llewellyn, K. (1962) Jurisprudence: Realism in Theory and Practice. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
McCleskey, C. (1966) “Judicial review in a democracy: a dissenting opinion.” Houston Law Rev. 3: 354–366.Google Scholar
McMichael, L. G. and Trilling, R. (1980) “The structure and meaning of critical realignment,” pp. 21–51 in Campbell, B. and Trilling, R. (eds.) Realignment in American Politics. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Murphy, W. and Tannenhaus, J. (1981) “Patterns of public support for the Supreme Court: a panel study.” J. of Politics 43: 24–47.Google Scholar
Murphy, W. and Tannenhaus, J. (1968) “Public opinion and the United States Supreme Court.” Public Opinion Q. 32: 31–50.Google Scholar
Murphy, W., Tannenhaus, J. and Kastner, D. L. (1973) “Public evaluations of constitutional courts” in comparative politics (01-045). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Nagel, S. (1969) “Curbing the court: the politics of congressional reaction,” pp. 245–279 in Nagel, S. (ed.) The Legal Process from a Behavioral Perspective. Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press.Google Scholar
Nexon, D. (1980) “Methodological issues in the study of realignment,” pp. 52–68 in Campbell, B. and Trilling, R. (eds.) Realignment in American Politics. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press,Google Scholar
O’Connor, K. (1981) “The view of three United States solicitors general in Supreme Court litigation. ‘ ‘ Presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association.Google Scholar
Pomper, G. (1975) Voter’s Choice. New York: Dodd, Mead.Google Scholar
Pomper, G. (1968) Elections in America. New York: Dodd, Mead.Google Scholar
Provine, D. M. (1980) Case Selection in the United States Supreme Court. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Rohde, D. and Spaeth, H. (1976) Supreme Court Decisionmaking. San Francisco: Freeman.Google Scholar
Schattscheneider, E. E. (1975) The Semi-Sovereign People. Hinsdale, IL: Dryden Press.Google Scholar
Scigliano, R. (1971) The Supreme Court and the Presidency. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Schmidhauser, J.R. (1961) “Judicial behavior and the sectional crisis of 1837-1860.” J. of Politics 23: 615–640.Google Scholar
Sinclair, B. (1982) Congressional Realignment, 1925-1978. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Songer, D. (1978/79) “The relevance of policy values for the confirmation of Supreme Court nominees.” Law and Society Rev. 13: 927–948.Google Scholar
Sundquist, J. (1973) Dynamics of the Party System. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Tate, C.N. (1981) “Personal attribute models of the voting behavior of U.S. Supreme Court Justices: liberalism in civil liberties and economic decisions, 1946-1978.” Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev. 75: 355.Google Scholar
Trilling, R. and Campbell, B. (1980) “Toward a theory of realignment,” pp. 2–20 in Campbell, B. and Trilling, R. (eds.) Realignment in American Politics. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Westin, A. (1953) “The Supreme Court, the populist movement, and the campaign of 1896.” J. of Politics 15: 3–41.Google Scholar