books
citizens courts and confirmations positivity theory and the judgments of the american people
p in recent years the american public has witnessed several hard fought battles over nominees to the u.s. supreme court . in these heated confirmation fights candidates legal and political philosophies have been subject to intense scrutiny and debate . citizens courts and confirmations examines one such fight over the nomination of samuel alito to discover how and why people formed opinions about the nominee and to determine how the confirmation process shaped perceptions of the supreme courts legitimacy . p drawing on a nationally representative survey james gibson and gregory caldeira use the alito confirmation fight as a window into public attitudes about the nations highest court . they find that americans know far more about the supreme court than many realize that the court enjoys a great deal of legitimacy among the american people that attitudes toward the court as an institution generally do not suffer from partisan or ideological polarization and that public knowledge enhances the legitimacy accorded the court . yet the authors demonstrate that partisan and ideological infighting that treats the court as just another political institution undermines the considerable public support the institution currently enjoys and that politicized confirmation battles pose a grave threat to the basic legitimacy of the supreme court .
other princeton university press 2009 isbn13 9780691139883 isbn10 0691139881
abridged n isbn 13 9780691139883 number in series 1 number of pages 178 publisher princeton univ pr release date 62135769600000