Impact of the Supreme Court Paul Lohse POS 315 Week Seven Arizona State University Impact on our lives • The media often gives much attention to Supreme Court decisions. • Given its visibility, the Supreme Court seemingly impacts our lives greatly. • Some scholars have challenged this perception. • Political scientist Gerald Rosenberg has argued that the Court has minimal impact in many areas. • So, does the Supreme Court have much impact? Outcomes for litigants • Supreme Court decisions affect the parties. • If the Supreme Court remands a case to a lower court, the outcome can remain uncertain. • This is because the Supreme Court can give much leeway to the lower court on its interpretation of law and application to a case. • After the lower court rules a second time, a party can appeal to the Supreme Court for reconsideration. • The Court’s interpretation of the double jeopardy provision allows for retrials if the case is overturned on procedural grounds. Implementation • Supreme Court decisions, of course, affect more than just the parties. • These decisions often change the meaning of law. • The Supreme Court depends on other institutions and individuals to implement and enforce its rulings. • It’s somewhat weak, in this way. Sometimes, scholars compare the U.S. Supreme Court to the papacy. The Pope has one advantage that the Court doesn’t – an army, which, I’m sure, at one time, could be used to enforce his edicts. The U.S. Supreme Court isn’t so lucky. It depends on the other branches of government and to a lesser extent the public to enforce its rulings. Implementation/communication • Communication plays an important role in implementation • One challenge is a decision’s ambiguity. • The Court can limit ambiguity by deciding more than one case. • Sometimes the Court does not resolve ambiguity. • This gives lower courts more discretion with interpretation. • A second challenge is how the decisions are communicated. • The Channels that Supreme Court decisions are communicated over affect their interpretation. • A school district may not interpret a decision like a police department, for example. Implementation/policy preferences • Institutions and other bureaucratic agencies have policy preferences (like the justices) • Their preferences can affect the implementation of rulings. • Bureaucrats are less likely to implement decisions when they see those decisions limiting their abilities. • Local government are less likely to fully implement decisions that are unpopular. • The policy preferences of judges on the lower courts can also affect implementation. Implementation/respect for rulings • Judges on the lower courts do not always agree with the Supreme Court. • Yet, they typically obey its decisions. • The lower court judges, nonetheless, interpret rulings narrowly, limiting their impacts. • Institutions outside of the legal system are more likely to defy the Supreme Court. • Many school districts do not follow rules concerning the separation of church and state, for example. Sanctions • One problem that the Supreme Court has is that it has little power to enforce its decisions. • For lower court judges the most common punishment is reversal. • Some judges are not intimidated by the threat of reversal. • Courts may order administrators to comply with decisions. • Someone who is injured by noncompliance many sue. • If the risk of someone suing is small, government agencies can get away with noncompliance. In 2015, Grand Canyon University President Brian Muller received a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union. In the letter, Victoria Lopez asked for the university to comply with the existing legal interpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act requiring employers to give equal treatment to same sex couples. The threat of a lawsuit, as Baum discusses, is an important tool in enforcing the legal rulings of the Supreme and other courts. Implementation/conclusions • Baum comes to two conclusions regarding implementation. 1. Organizations that challenge noncompliance are important. • There is less likelihood of compliance when a lawsuit is unlikely. 2. Enforcement is easier when there are fewer organizations affected Case Study/School desegregation • Prior to Brown v. Board of Education, separate schools existed in the South for blacks and whites. • The Supreme Court decision mandated integration. • Border states like Maryland slowly integrated. • Yet, there was strong resistance in the South. • Ten years after the decision, less than 10% of black students attended school with a white student. Case Study/School desegregation • Many school administrators did not comply with desegregation. • Not many lawsuits were filed on behalf of black students. Parents feared retaliation. • The Court gave federal judges much discretion in determining the timeline for desegregation. • Many judges were opposed to desegregation and did not impose a speedy timeline. • Integration is not successful until two decades after Brown in the South. • Arguably, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 motivated desecration. The federal government could withhold money from states that discriminated. This table shows the percentage of black students going to school with any number of white students in eleven Southern states following Brown v. Board of Education. Ten years after the case was decided, only a small percentage of black students went to school with whites. Case Study/disclosure • Prosecutors must turn over evidence that is favorable to the accused and “material to either guilt or punishment.” • According to Brady v. Maryland, withholding evidence violates the due process rights of the accused. • Today, prosecutors do not always comply with this decision. Why? • Prosecutors have an interest in winning cases. • Consequently, it is often not in their interest to turn over evidence. Case Study/disclosure • One reason that prosecutors do not comply with Brady is that there is a low probability of negative consequences. • In 2019, the New York legislature passed legislation that allowed for the censure or firing of prosecutors who withheld evidence. • A more conservative Supreme Court has narrowly interpreted Brady, lessening its impact. • In Imbler v. Pachtman, the Court gave immunity to prosecutors in civil rights cases. • In United States v. Ruiz, the Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors do not have to turn over evidence prior to a plea bargain. Case Study/marriage equality • The Court in Obergefell v. Hodges declared that states did not have the right to prohibit same sex marriage. • The Supreme Court left the enforcement of the decision to the states. • Some judges and administrators supported the ruling; some did not. • Those who opposed the decision often did not follow it. • A federal appeals judge in Puerto Rico ruled that the decision was not applicable because Puerto Rico is not a state, for example. • Others followed the ruling begrudgingly. Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis made national headlines when she refused to grant a marriage license following the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges citing religious convictions as her reason. Her resistance is an excellent example of the problem that the U.S. Supreme Court has with implementing its decisions – Administrators can often just say no. Case Study/marriage equality • Higher authorities reversed decisions that did not follow Obergefell. • Litigants challenged these judgements in the federal district courts. • The courts punished those who did not follow the decision, e.g., a county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples in Kentucky. • Some conservative state legislatures responded: • The Kentucky legislature removed the name of the clerk from the license. • Alabama stopped issuing marriage licenses. Congress strikes back • Congress often responds to Supreme Court rulings that it does not agree with. • As we have learned, it can override a statutory judgement by passing new law. • Congress can influence the implementation of the rulings. • It’s much harder for Congress to override Constitutional rulings. • Congress can override a constitutional ruling with statutory law If the Court upholds a government action. Congress can then end the government action in question. • The action would still be legal; the government just chooses not to engage in it. Congress strikes back • Congress can sometimes respond to a Constitutional override by passing law that accomplishes the same goal while following the Court’s judgement. • Those in Congress can attack the judges, criticizing their decisions publicly. • At times, Congress has attempted to take away the courts’ jurisdiction. • Congress has also tried to limit the justices’ terms, court pack and impeach. The President strikes back • The president, too, can assert authority against the Court. • The president, like those in Congress, can publicly criticize decisions. • Presidents can ask Congress to override decisions made by the Court. • Presidents can use their executive powers to influence the implementation of the rulings via the bureaucracy. • Their efforts can be positive or negative, broadening or narrowing the implementation. • Presidents are unlikely to disobey orders by the Court. • Noncompliance compromises their legitimacy and ability to enact agenda. Impact on society • How do Supreme Court decisions impact society? • Direct effects give immediate benefits for individuals and groups. • Rulings on business and election law often transfer direct benefits. • Often rulings have broader impacts. • In Quill Corp v. Heitkamp, the Court ruled that consumers did not have to pay sales tax in a transaction with an out-of-state business. • This decision gave ecommerce an advantage which it needed to grow and compete against traditional stores. States strike back • The states can also respond to Supreme Court rulings. • Like Congress, states can write laws that fulfill Constitutional requirements while accomplishing the same goal. • States can leave state law that the Court rules against alone. Yet, these laws are unlikely to stand. • Legislatures are likely to rewrite them. • Judges are likely to declare that law unconstitutional. • The Court sometimes grants the states greater freedom. State lawmakers must decide how to use it. Case study/abortion • The Supreme Court made abortion legal following its decision in Roe v. Wade. • Following the Court’s decision, states either rewrote provisions banning abortion or decided not to enforce them. • Many states passed laws prohibiting abortion under certain circumstances. • The Supreme Court stuck down down of these new laws while upholding others. • In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the court affirmed the right to an abortion but gave states more regulatory control. Case study/abortion • Some states took advantage of the Casey ruling and passed laws restricting abortion. • In Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, the Court struck down Texas abortion provisions because the court saw it as violating Casey. • President Donald Trump makes conservative appointments to the Court including Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch. • It seems unlikely that Roe v. Wade will withstand constitutional challenge as of now (Summer 2022). Case study/capital punishment • The Court overturned capital punishment in Furman v. Georgia in 1972 on the basis that blacks were disproportionately executed. • States wishing to continue execution rewrote laws to address arbitrariness. • In Gregg v. Georgia, the Court provided rules on what constituted arbitrariness. • States then used these rules as a guide. Case study/capital punishment • Since Gregg v. Georgia, the Court has struck down statutory provisions. • If the offending provision prevents executions, state legislatures will often write new law. • If the offending provision does not prevent executions, state lawmakers will often keep the rule. • Following Roper v. Simmons, states could not execute minors. • Many states, nonetheless, did not address this provision because they had no intent to execute minors. The Court’s impact in three areas • Labor relations • Public unions are on the decline. The courts have contributed to this in their rulings. • Abortion • The number of abortions is on the decline. The court’s rulings restricting access have contributed to this decline. • Racial equality • Brown v. Board of Education gave black Americans greater rights. It served as a template for equality and integration for the next half century. Conclusions • Baum draws these conclusions about the impact of the Supreme Court on society: • The Court decides few public policy questions. • The Court does address important policy issues, but other institutions mediate the Court’s impact. • The Court has made important rulings on the political process, e.g., Bush v. Gore. • The Court’s rulings affect political and social change, e.g., Brown v. Board of Education. • The Court helps to put issues on the national agenda.
