New Conference Paper: The Public Administration of the Supreme Court: The Chief Justice, Management, and Consensus

My coauthor, Carla Flink, and I unveiled our new paper on the role of the Chief Justice on Supreme Court decision-making at last week's meeting of the Southern Political Science Association:

The Public Administration of the Supreme Court: The Chief Justice, Management, and Consensus

Joseph Daniel Ura
Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
Texas A&M University

Carla Flink
Doctoral Student
Department of Political Science
Texas A&M University

In this paper, we draw on a prominent model of public management to develop a preliminary theoretical approach to understanding the role of the chief justice in Supreme Court decision-making. In particular, we argue that Court may seek legitimacy through greater unanimity and discuss how the leadership of the chief justice can facilitate that effort. We assess two hypotheses derived from this theory, showing that increased efficiency in the chief justice’s use of his formal powers over his tenure in office and greater agreement among the justices as the incumbent chief justice’s tenure in office increases. We argue that these results provide support for further attention to and development of a public administration-based approach to the study of Supreme Court decision-making.

The manuscript is still very much at the conference paper stage, but it is promising, and I hope we can wrap up a solid, publishable draft by the end of the spring semester. Professional comments on this version are most welcome. You may download the paper here.