The US Supreme Court and the 2021-2022 Term

What exactly is the US Supreme Court? Is it a court of law or a super legislature? John Roberts, the current chief justice, has described Supreme Court justices as neutral umpires who merely call balls and strikes based upon the rules of law. The comparison is meant to suggest that justices don’t have their own opinions on the issues involved in the cases they decide. They just follow the law. Political scientists, however, have long maintained that justices decide cases based upon their own personal values. This course will examine these two views of the Court, using cases from the 2021-2022 Court term. 

Reading: Jeffrey A. Segal and Harold J. Spaeth, The Supreme Court and the Attitudinal Model Revisited, ISBN 978-0521789714. 

Kevin Hart is a former lawyer who covered the US Supreme Court for a number of years as a newsletter journalist.