Exploring Judicial Politics

This volume presents 20 original essays by political scientists and other judicial scholars on a variety of topics relative to the broad area of judicial politics. One theme of these essays is to explore the ways in which law and politics intertwine in the United States. Secondly, the essays provide insights into how scholars go about studying various judicial politics subjects such as the role of judges, lawyers, and juries in our political system. The essays explore issues at the trial court level, at the intermediate appellate court level, and at the U.S. Supreme Court. The essays look at the role of judges, juries, lawyers, interest groups, and other actors in the American legal system. Some of the essays look at the issues of judicial selection, while others look at how what we learn about the courts in the U.S. can help us better understand courts in other countries. Taken together, the essays reveal the broad range of issues that students of judicial politics will want to understand in order to appreciate the role of courts in our society.