The Tides of Public Opinion and the US Supreme Court Docket

• In Event: Setting SCOTUS's Agenda

Abstract

This study investigates the level of local media coverage of lower court decisions and its impact on the likelihood that a case will be granted review by the US Supreme Court. Scholars have long recognized the role of the media in shaping public and elite views of the courts. However, there is a gap in the literature when it comes to the media coverage of Federal appellate or State Supreme Court cases, which are the two primary sources of US Supreme Court cases. This omission is important for two reasons. First, media coverage is the link between the people and the court, as the average citizen does not read the court’s opinions, but the media’s interpretation of the opinion. And second, discussion of court decisions in different media outlets can determine the level of support or opposition towards an issue. Using an original dataset of all writ of certiorari petitions filed with the US Supreme Court between 1945 and 2019, and its respective coverage in local newspapers, we find an indirect link between the tides of public opinion and the court’s docket. The findings of this research point to a broader relationship between the courts and the people.

Authors

• Sahar Abi-Hassan, Northeastern University

• Janet M. Box-Steffensmeier, Ohio State University

• Dino Pinterpe Christenson, Washington University in St. Louis