Celebration of Scholars
We the People: The Role of Public Opinion in Supreme Court Decisions
Name:
Rebecca Rankins
Major: Political Science and Criminal Justice
Hometown: Winnebago, IL
Faculty Sponsor: Thomas Powers
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Senior thesis
Abstract
The governing of the United States presents an uncompromisable role by the public; in American politics, the people govern themselves through representation. However, this role is not explicitly reflected in the Supreme Court, an unelected body. Although legal scholars argue justices make their decisions apart from consideration of public opinion, this thesis argues the opposite; Supreme Court decisions do have a relationship to public opinion. Further, this was the intention of the American founders. This study involves an analysis of some legal scholars and the American founders in order to investigate whether public opinion plays an indispensable role in judicial decision making. Following the analysis, this thesis seeks the correlation between judicial decisions and public opinion through a case study into historical Supreme Court decisions as well as the decisions of twenty-first century. This thesis suggests that judicial decisions should be considered in light of public opinion as the two ideas seem to have a relationship.Submit date: March 6, 2019, 7:25 a.m.