Partisanship, Ideology, and the Foundations of Supreme Court Legitimacy

• In Event: Public Opinion's Effect on Courts

Abstract

Does partisanship erode institutional legitimacy? Inquiries on public attitudes towards electoral institutions in the United States generally suggest that partisan polarization exerts a persistently negative influence in shaping the public’s perceptions towards congress and the executive branch. Yet, public opinion studies on the judiciary consistently demonstrate that diffuse support (i.e, institutional legitimacy) for the U.S. Supreme Court is largely unencumbered. A key, underlying assumption of legitimacy studies is that partisanship remains an existential threat to broader public support for the Court. The implications of partisan effects are frequently theorized as negative and symmetrical in undermining confidence in the Court for the public-at-large. We argue that potential influences of partisanship on diminishing support for the Court is conditional on the partisan proximity of a citizen to the partisan cue. We add to the literature by assessing the impact of partisan effects on three distinct segments of the public: co-partisans, out-partisans, and non-partisans (i.e., politically neutral). We expect partisanship to negatively impact perceptions most strongly among out-partisans. We also expect partisan cues to diminish support among self-identified, non-partisans compared to the control (i.e., non-partisan) treatment. On the other hand, our intuition is that partisan signaling will increase support among co-partisans. Moreover, our theoretical account is premised on the belief that overt partisan treatments will asymmetrically alter support among co-partisans and out-partisans even when juxtaposed with ideologically charged issue areas with clearly conservative and liberal outcomes. That is, among members of the public, partisanship should exert a greater influence than ideology. We assess the efficacy of these propositions through a series of experiments with partisan cues relying on both convenience and nationally representative samples. This project contributes to a broad literature on American institutions, law and courts, public opinion, partisanship, political psychology, and experimental analysis.

Authors

• Ali Shiraz Masood, Oberlin College

• Christopher Krewson, Brigham Young University