Ideology in the Supreme Court.

• Author: Waas, George
• Position: Book review

Ideology in the Supreme Court

by Lawrence Baum

Reviewed by George Waas

The recent confirmation hearing for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch was just the latest battle over the ideological composition of the high court. Since the question of ideology took root during the confirmation hearing of Robert Bork in 1987, just about every nominee has had to face such inquiry.

The emphasis on ideology is born in significant part of a desire for predictability; that is, if a nominee's ideological bent can be discerned, it might be a solid predictor of how the nominee will vote on key issues once on the Court.

But until the publication of this book, scant attention had been given as to whether ideology of the justices might involve other and perhaps more important factors than simply asking confirmation hearing questions that will not be answered by nominees.

Baum conducts a statistical analysis of more than 150 Supreme Court cases using generally accepted modalities and concludes that, while justices often vote ideologically, their votes may be determined more by their disposition toward particular litigants. In other words, in his view, opinions flow not only from logical premises, but from psychological theories of human nature.

Baum defines ideology as a nearly complete set of political issue preferences that is shared by others in the same political system. In specifically addressing conservative vs. liberal ideologies, he examines cases in three broad areas: freedom of expression, criminal justice, and takings, because of the shift in the Court's treatment of these types of cases over a broad sweep of time. To a lesser extent, he also analyzes cases involving racial and sex discrimination, religion, regulation of business, federal taxes, and personal injury and monetary claims against the federal government.

The author concludes that the identification of positions on issues as conservative or liberal develops through the creation of shared understandings among political elites. Values play an important role in driving positions, but so do people's likes and dislikes for groups that are either potential beneficiaries of, or advocates for, certain policies.

Because of the impressive...