| Description |
The decision making process of the Supreme Court has profound import for the daily lives of every citizen. The decisions the Court renders define the status of liberty, equality and justice in America. Even so, as Harvard Constitutional Law Professor Laurence Tribe often points out, the exercise of judicial power in the United States is a rarely understood process. The goal of my Honors project has been to further understand the theory behind and the practice of the Supreme Court decision making process. I have undertaken two separate projects that examine the Supreme Court from two different yet interrelated perspectives. In a project completed for the Philosophy Department, I explored the philosophical explanations and justification for the practice of law. The objective was to establish a model by which to analyze the decision making process of the Supreme Court. In this Communication project, I have added communication research to this philosophical model to further understand the Supreme Court decision making process. To discuss the process of Supreme Court decision making, I first developed the concept of process as it is discussed in communication research. I adopted the method of my advisor, Richard D. Rieke, to identify connections among different theorists' research. These connections, combined with Benjamin Cardozo's guiding forces of principles, provide a lucid method for analyzing and comprehending the Supreme Court decision making process. The Supreme Court decision making process functions as a dialogue among lawyers and judges, government and governed, and political institutions. Like all conversations, the Court's dialogue occurs in a specific context--a dynamic context of power and presumptions. I have identified and discuss four factors that have the greatest impact on the context of the Court's decision making process. These four factors are the Court as a political institution, the formation of judicial review, the case selection process, and the members of the Court. For this Senior Honor Project, I have selected three particular areas where the decision making process as dialogue is evident. First, I look at two examples of politicized decision making in anomalous cases. Each case exemplifies the dynamics of decision making and the continual chance of surprise. Second, I examine the dialogue concerning the principle of equality, and how the meaning of equality has been discussed and negotiated over an extended period of the Nation's history. Third, I examine the abortion controversy of the past 20 years and discuss the various elements of that dialogue and their implications for the Supreme Court decision making process. |
