A Neo-Institutional Explanation of State Supreme Court Responses in Search and Seizure Cases

• Published in: American politics research Vol. 35; no. 5; pp. 726 - 754
• Main Authors: Comparato, Scott A., McClurg, Scott D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.09.2007; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Conflict; Decision Making; Dissemination; Federal court decisions; Judiciary; Legal codes; Legal norms; Legal systems; Neoinstitutionalism; Political behaviour; Political science research; Search & seizure; State court decisions; State courts; States (Political Subdivisions); Supreme Court; Supreme Court decisions; Supreme Courts; U.S.A; United States of America; judicial behavior; state supreme courts; compliance; search and seizure; state judicial institutions
• ISSN: 1532-673X; 1552-3373
• DOI: 10.1177/1532673X07302595

To better understand the relationship between the U.S. Supreme Court and state supreme courts, we examine how Supreme Court precedent affects state supreme court decision making. Examining state supreme court decisions in search and seizure cases decided by the Supreme Court between 1983 and 1993, we specifically test hypotheses about how state judicial context and Supreme Court behavior influences when the lower court is likely to be affected by Supreme Court precedent. We find that there is substantial variation in the responses to precedent by state supreme courts. We find that precedent has a substantial influence on the behavior of state supreme court justices, but judicial ideology and the level of historical conflict between the Supreme Court and the state supreme court also influence the dissemination of precedent to the states. Most interesting, the effect of judicial retention methods on the application of precedent are considerable.