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Deciding to Not Decide: A Longitudinal Analysis of the Politics of Secondary Access on the U.S. Supreme Court

Povtak, Andrew A.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1302048596

Abstract Details

2011, PHD, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Political Science.
Research on the U.S. Supreme Court is ubiquitous, and has focused primarily on agenda setting at the primary access point (the certiorari stage) and on decision-making on the merits. In the course of this research, scholars have devised numerous ways to explain justice voting behavior. The main argument has been whether political attitudes motivates justice voting behavior, or whether internal and external variables pose constraints on the ability of the justices to realize their sincere preferences. This dissertation takes a new look at the factors motivating justice voting behavior by examining justiciability and jurisdictional issues (termed “secondary access”). The dissertation’s goal is to develop a strategic model that incorporates pertinent influences on the individual justices’ votes. The dissertation also builds institutional-level models of Court behavior to gauge the effectiveness of the behavioral models. The author finds that attitudes, the adherence to precedent, legal doctrine, public pressure, internal strategy, and preferences of Congress and the President all influence individual voting.
Christopher Banks (Committee Chair)
Ryan Claassen (Committee Member)
Mark Colvin (Committee Member)
Elizabeth Smith-Prior (Committee Member)
Stephen Webster (Other)
166 p.
Political Science
Supreme Court; justiciability; voting; decisionmaking

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Povtak, A. A. (2011). Deciding to Not Decide: A Longitudinal Analysis of the Politics of Secondary Access on the U.S. Supreme Court [Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1302048596

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Povtak, Andrew. Deciding to Not Decide: A Longitudinal Analysis of the Politics of Secondary Access on the U.S. Supreme Court. 2011. Kent State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1302048596.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Povtak, Andrew. "Deciding to Not Decide: A Longitudinal Analysis of the Politics of Secondary Access on the U.S. Supreme Court." Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1302048596

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

kent1302048596
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© 2011, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.