10: Legitimacy, Public Support and Backlash

Courts are sometimes referred to as “non-majoritarian” institutions, but how well are they insulated from the vicissitudes of public opinion? In the final week we seek to understand sources of judicial legitimacy and whether declining public and elite support changes how courts behave.

Mandatory readings

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Optional readings

Bartels, Brandon L., and Christopher D. Johnston. “On the ideological foundations of Supreme Court legitimacy in the American public.” American Journal of Political Science 57, no. 1 (2013): 184-199.

Cheruvu, Sivaram, Jay N. Krehbiel, and Samantha Mussell. “Partisanship, pragmatism, or idealism? Evaluating public support for backlashes against international courts in backsliding democracies.” Journal of European Public Policy (2024): 1-31.

Clark, Tom S. “The separation of powers, court curbing, and judicial legitimacy.” American Journal of Political Science 53, no. 4 (2009): 971-989.

Madsen, Mikael Rask, Pola Cebulak, and Micha Wiebusch. “Backlash against international courts: explaining the forms and patterns of resistance to international courts.” International Journal of Law in Context 14, no. 2 (2018): 197-220.

Ura, Joseph Daniel. “Backlash and legitimation: Macro political responses to Supreme Court decisions.” American Journal of Political Science 58, no. 1 (2014): 110-126.

Stiansen, Øyvind, and Erik Voeten. “Backlash and judicial restraint: Evidence from the European Court of Human Rights.” International Studies Quarterly 64, no. 4 (2020): 770-784.

Alter, Karen J., James T. Gathii, and Laurence R. Helfer. “Backlash against international courts in west, east and southern Africa: causes and consequences.” European Journal of International Law 27, no. 2 (2016): 293-328.

Soley, Ximena, and Silvia Steininger. “Parting ways or lashing back? Withdrawals, backlash and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.” International Journal of Law in Context 14, no. 2 (2018): 237-257.

Madsen, Mikael Rask. “Two-level politics and the backlash against international courts: Evidence from the politicisation of the European court of human rights.” The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 22, no. 4 (2020): 728-738.

Voeten, Erik. “Populism and backlashes against international courts.” Perspectives on Politics 18, no. 2 (2020): 407-422.

Madsen, Mikael Rask, Juan A. Mayoral, Anton Strezhnev, and Erik Voeten. “Sovereignty, substance, and public support for European courts’ human rights rulings.” American Political Science Review 116, no. 2 (2022): 419-438.

Bartels, Brandon L., and Eric Kramon. “Does public support for judicial power depend on who is in political power? Testing a theory of partisan alignment in Africa.” American Political Science Review 114, no. 1 (2020): 144-163.

Mondak, Jeffery J., and Shannon Ishiyama Smithey. “The dynamics of public support for the Supreme Court.” The Journal of Politics 59, no. 4 (1997): 1114-1142.

Durr, Robert H., Andrew D. Martin, and Christina Wolbrecht. “Ideological divergence and public support for the Supreme Court.” American Journal of Political Science (2000): 768-776.

Gibson, James L., Gregory A. Caldeira, and Vanessa A. Baird. “On the legitimacy of national high courts.” American Political Science Review 92, no. 2 (1998): 343-358.

Caldeira, Gregory A. “Neither the purse nor the sword: Dynamics of public confidence in the Supreme Court.” American Political Science Review 80, no. 4 (1986): 1209-1226.