Oral Arguments Before the Supreme Court - An Empirical Approach

Of all the steps in the Supreme Court's decision-making process, only one is visible to the public: the oral arguments. By carefully analyzing transcripts of all the oral arguments available to the public, Professor Wrightsman provides empirical answers to a number of questions about the operation of oral arguments. This book provides a model for understanding the dynamics of judicial decision making from an empirical perspective.

Summary

When the Supreme Court agrees to decide a case, the litigants make an (usually one-hour) oral presentation to the Court. In all the steps in the Court's decision, this is the only public part. As such, it provides an important window into the Court's decision-making processes. Using original transcripts from the last 8 sessions of the Supreme Court, Wrightsman's empirical research is the first of its kind. The purpose of this book is to examine how the oral arguments work, and their effect on the Court's decisions. It also draws the important distinction between ideological cases (i.e. hot-button issues such as the death penalty, affirmative action, abortion, and the environment) and non-ideological cases (bankruptcy, tax code, civil litigation), and shows the different ways in which they're treated.

Product details

• Authors: Lawrence Wrightsman, Lawrence S. Wrightsman
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 16.04.2008
• EAN: 9780195368628
• ISBN: 978-0-19-536862-8
• No. of pages: 187
• Dimensions: 159 mm x 241 mm x 19 mm
• Series: American Psychology-Law Societ; American Psychology-Law Society Series; American Psychology-Law Societ
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Psychology > Applied psychology; Non-fiction book > Psychology, esoterics, spirituality, anthroposophy > Applied psychology