The Dimension of the Supreme Court

Authors

Paul H. Edelman

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Constitutional Commentary

Publication Date

2003

Page Number

557

Keywords

Supreme Court, spacial voting, information theory, single value decomposition

Disciplines

Constitutional Law | Law | Legal History | Supreme Court of the United States

Abstract

In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Lawrence Sirovich introduced two novel mathematical techniques to study patterns in recent Supreme Court decisions. One of these methods, information theory, has never been applied previously. The other method, singular value decomposition, is closely related to other methods that have previously been employed.

In this paper I give an explication of these two methods and evaluate their use in the context of understanding the Supreme Court. I conclude that information theory holds some promise for furthering our understanding but singular value decomposition, as applied by Sirovich, is a less appropriate methodology.

Recommended Citation

Paul H. Edelman, The Dimension of the Supreme Court, 20 Constitutional Commentary. 557 (2003)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications/648