The President and the Supreme Court: Going Public on Judicial Decisions from Washington to Trump

When presidents take positions on pending Supreme Court cases or criticize the Court's decisions, they are susceptible to being attacked for acting as bullies and violating the norm of judicial independence. Why then do presidents target Supreme Court decisions in their public appeals? In this book, Paul M. Collins, Jr and Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha argue that presidents discuss the Court's decisions to demonstrate their responsiveness to important matters of public policy and to steer the implementation of the Court's decisions. Using data from Washington to Trump, they show that, far from being bullies, presidents discuss cases to promote their re-election, policy goals, and historical legacies, while attempting to affect the impact of Court decisions on the bureaucracy, Congress, the media, and the public.

Author: Paul M. Collins Jr, Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 01/09/2020
Pages: 284
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.20w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9781108723893

About the Author
Collins Jr, Paul M.: - Paul M. Collins, Jr is Professor of Political Science and Legal Studies and the Director of Legal Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He has published extensively on the US Supreme Court in a variety of journals and is also the author of two award-winning books: Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings and Constitutional Change (Cambridge, 2013), co-authored with Lori A. Ringhand, and Friends of the Supreme Court: Interest Groups and Judicial Decision Making (2008).Eshbaugh-Soha, Matthew: - Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha is Department Chair and Professor of Political Science at the University of North Texas. His research focuses on American political institutions, specifically the presidency and mass media, and public policy. He is the author of nearly three dozen scholarly articles and two books: The President's Speeches: Beyond 'Going Public' (2006) and Breaking through the Noise: Presidential Leadership, Public Opinion, and the News Media, co-authored with Jeffrey S. Peake (2011).