How Do Justices Make Decisions?Models of Court Decision Making:

• Legal Model– Judges make decisions based on stare

decisis (precedent)• Attitudinal Model

– Judges make decisions based on their own policy preferences

• Rational Choice Model– Judges are utility maximizers

Supreme Court

• The U.S. Supreme Court grants certiorari to a very small number of cases every year– Rule of Four– Interest Groups and other political actors file

amicus curae briefs with the Court• Try to influence decision to grant cert (or not grant

cert)• Also try to influence the decision

Legal Model

• Consistent with “judicial restraint”• Judges behave (grant certiorari, make

decisions, etc.) based on legal precedent– Strict adherence to letter of the law

• Judges do not impose their own personal policy preferences

Attitudinal Model

• Consistent with “judicial activism”• Jeffrey Segal and Harold Spaeth• Judges behave based on their own

personal policy preferences or ideology– When making a decision, judges are making

comparisons between previous court decision under review and their own preferences

Attitudinal Model

• Decisions consistent with attitudinal model – Voting patterns consistent with policy

preferences of justices• Other political actors believe that judges

behave attitudinally– President appoints like-minded justices– Senate more likely to reject nominees

• Supreme Court following public opinion– Replacement Theory

Rational Choice Models

• Judges act strategically in order to get preferred outcomes– Changing vote from original conference vote

to final vote– Voting against policy preferences in order to

get reelected (if elected judge)– Granting certiorari to cases so that the court

will uphold preferred decisions

Landmark Court Cases

• Marbury v. Madison (1803)• McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)• Dredd Scott v. Sanford (1857)• Plessey v. Ferguson (1896)• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka,

Kansas (1954)• Roe v. Wade (1973)