The Pioneers of Judicial Behavior

In The Pioneers of Judicial Behavior, prominent political scientists critically examine the contributions to the field of public law of the pioneering scholars of judicial behavior: C. Hermann Pritchett, Glendon Schubert, S. Sidney Ulmer, Harold J. Spaeth, Joseph Tanenhaus, Beverly Blair Cook, Walter F. Murphy, J. Woodward Howard, David J. Danelski, David Rohde, Edward S. Corwin, Alpheus Thomas Mason, Robert G. McCloskey, Robert A. Dahl, and Martin Shapiro. Unlike past studies that have traced the emergence and growth of the field of judicial studies, The Pioneers of Judicial Behavior accounts for the emergence and exploration of three current theoretical approaches to the study of judicial behavior--attitudinal, strategic, and historical-institutionalist--and shows how the research of these foundational scholars has contributed to contemporary debates about how to conceptualize judges as policy makers. Chapters utilize correspondence of and interviews with some early scholars, and provide a format to connect the concerns and controversies of the first political scientists of law and courts to contemporary challenges and methodological debates among today's judicial scholars. The volume's purpose in looking back is to look forward: to contribute to an ecumenical research agenda on judicial decision making, and, ultimately, to the generation of a unified, general theory of judicial behavior. The Pioneers of Judicial Behavior will be of interest to graduate students in the law and courts field, political scientists interested in the philosophy of social science and the history of the discipline, legal practitioners and researchers, and political commentators interested in academic theorizing about public policy making. Nancy L. Maveety is Associate Professor of Political Science, Tulane University. "[Authors] examine the contributions to the field of public law of the pioneering scholars of judicial behavior: C. Hermann Pritchett, Glendon Schubert, S. Sidney Ulmer, Harold J. Spaeth, Joseph Tanenhaus, Beverly Blair Cook, Walter F. Murphy, J. Woodward Howard, David J. Danelski, David Rohde, Edward S. Corwin, Alpheus Thomas Mason, Robert G. McCloskey, Robert A. Dahl, and Martin Shapiro. Unlike past studies that have traced the emergence and growth of the field of judicial studies, [this book] accounts for the emergence and exploration of three current theoretical approaches to the study of judicial behavior--attitudinal, strategic, and historical-institutionalist--and shows how the research of these foundational scholars has contributed to contemporary debates about how to conceptualize judges as policy makers. Chapters utilize correspondence of and interviews with some early scholars, and provide a format to connect the concerns and controversies of the first political scientists of law and courts to contemporary challenges and methodological debates among today's judicial scholars. The volume's purpose in looking back is to look forward: to contribute to an ecumenical research agenda on judicial decision making, and, ultimately, to the generation of a unified, general theory of judicial behavior."-- Provided by publisher The study of judicial behavior and the discipline of political science / Nancy Maveety C. Herman Pritchett : innovator with an ambiguous legacy / Lawrence Baum Glendon Schubert : the judicial mind / Jeffrey A. Segal S. Sidney Ulmer : the multidimensionality of judicial decision making / Robert C. Bradley Harold J. Spaeth : the Supreme Court computer / Sara C. Benesh Joseph Tanenhaus : the "learned discipline" of public law / Robert A. Carp Beverly Blair Cook : the value of eclecticism / Lee Epstein and Lynn Mather Walter F. Murphy : the interactive nature of judicial decision making / Lee Epstein and Jack Knight J. Woodford Howard Jr. : fluidity, strategy, and analytical synthesis in judicial studies / Nancy Maveety and John Anthony Maltese David J. Danelski : social psychology and group choice / Thomas G. Walker David Rohde : rational choice theorist / Saul Brenner Edward S. Corwin as public scholar / Cornell W. Clayton Alpheus Thomas Mason : piercing the judicial veil / Sue Davis Robert G. McCloskey, historical institutionalism, and the arts of judicial governance / Howard Gillman Robert Dahl : democracy, judicial review, and the study of law and courts / David Adamany and Stephen Meinhold Martin Shapiro : anticipating the new institutionalism / Herbert M. Kritzer.