Save this Honorable Court: Shaping Public Perceptions of the Supreme Court Off the Bench

• Date: 01 September 2019
• DOI: 10.1177/1065912918801563
• Published date: 01 September 2019
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912918801563

Political Research Quarterly

2019, Vol. 72(3) 686 –699

© 2018 University of Utah

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DOI: 10.1177/1065912918801563

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Article

Introduction

The U.S. Supreme Court is a constrained institution. In

particular, it requires broad public support to maintain its

legitimacy and produce efficacious decisions (Bickel

1986; Epstein and Knight 1997). Some scholars argue

that the Court maintains high levels of support by staying

out of the public spotlight (Hibbing and Theiss-Morse

2002). If we look more closely at judicial activity, how-

ever, we find that justices are quietly persistent in their

public outreach. Indeed, as this article will demonstrate, a

justice of the Supreme Court makes a public appearance

nearly every other day. Far from staying away, justices

embrace opportunities to interact with the public.

In general, scholars have highlighted the extent to

which members of Congress and the President use public

relations to accomplish their goals while ignoring similar

efforts by justices. For example, we know that members

of Congress tailor their “home style,” or manner of pre-

senting self, to build trust with constituents (Fenno 1978).

Presidents go public to go over the heads of members of

Congress, thereby overcoming constitutional constraints

on their policy-making power (Kernell 2006). While judi-

cial scholars have looked at the connection between

going public and Supreme Court nominations (see, e.g.,

Johnson and Roberts 2004), they have written more on

the public activities of the president than of such activi-

ties by those nominated to the bench.1 Yet, there are

strong reasons to think that justices, like their counter-

parts in Congress and the White House, can use off-the-

bench activity to establish a connection with the public

and enhance legitimacy.

Justices might also use extrajudicial activities to

enhance their own personal favorability and prestige.

They may do so by shaping their own public image or

improving perceptions of their institution. We know that

members of the Supreme Court, for instance, care about

self-presentation because it influences how favorably peo-

ple view them (Baum 2009; Posner 2010). While justices

choose to defend the Court (Davis 2011; Schmidt 2013),

others benefit by distinguishing themselves from their

institution. For example, Fenno (1978) argues that mem-

bers of Congress run for Congress by running against it.

801563PRQXXX10.1177/1065912918801563Political Research QuarterlyKrewson

research-article2018

1Claremont Graduate University, CA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Christopher N. Krewson, Department of Politics & Government,

Claremont Graduate University, 227 McManus Hall, 170 E. 10th St.,

Claremont, CA 91711, USA.

Email: christopher.krewson@cgu.edu

Save this Honorable Court:

Shaping Public Perceptions of the

Supreme Court Off the Bench

Christopher N. Krewson1

Abstract

Scholars believe that justices on the U.S. Supreme Court strategically respond to—but rarely shape—public opinion.

This article provides a new perspective on judicial behavior. Looking “off the bench,” I find evidence that justices

actively shape perceptions of the Court through their public speeches. In particular, I employed a randomized field

experiment and a randomized survey experiment to analyze the causal effects of attending a speech and reading

about it in the news. For the field experiment, I assigned law students with reservations to a public speech by Justice

Sotomayor to take a survey just before or just after the event. For the separate survey experiment, I assigned

individuals in a treatment group to read news coverage of the speech before responding to survey questions. I find

that, among attendees, justices improve their own favorability and change beliefs about the importance of law in

judicial decision making. Among those who read of the speech, justices also change perceptions of the politicization

of the Court and strengthen institutional loyalty. These findings have important implications for our understanding of

judicial behavior and public perceptions of the Court.

Keywords

Supreme Court, judicial behavior, off-bench speech, legitimacy, public opinion, experiments