Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Constitutional Commentary

Publication Date

2007

Page Number

199

Keywords

judicial power, judges, US Supreme Court, voting behavior, elections

Disciplines

Judges | Jurisprudence | Law | Supreme Court of the United States

Abstract

In this essay, our third and last in a series, we employ our previously developed techniques to measure the power of the Justices in the Rehnquist Court over its full 11 year run. Once again, Justice Kennedy rises to the top of our rankings, as he had done earlier. Our methods identify Justices Souter, Breyer and Ginsburg as being notable either for their influence or lack thereof. In addition, we rejoin the debate on the connection between being the median justice and being the most powerful one. We question whether even the most sophisticated methods of finding the median justice are adequate to the task of assessing power on the Court.

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