Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Fall 1990
Abstract
In this article we follow the recent developments of the modern theory of administrative agencies, by developing a rational choice theory of the Supreme Court. Our framework combines two of the main characteristics of this literature: namely, the rational choice modeling strategy with the notion that institutions matter in the design of public policy. We differ basically by modeling the Supreme Court as a self-interested, ideologically motivated institution, making its decisions subject not to the traditional legal rules of precedent, but to the constraints arising from the political interests of other institutions of government-namely, Congress and the President.
Recommended Citation
Rafael Gely and Pablo T. Spiller,
A Rational Choice Theory of Supreme Court Statutory Decisions with Applications to the State Farm and Grove City Cases, 6 Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 263
(1990).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/facpubs/800
