Rationing the Structure: How Judicial Capability Shapes Supreme Court docket Resolution-Making

On this groundbreaking evaluation of Supreme Court docket decision-making, Andrew Coan explains how judicial caseload shapes the course of American constitutional legislation and the function of the Court docket in American society.

In contrast with the huge equipment surrounding Congress and the president, the Supreme Court docket is a tiny establishment that may resolve solely a small fraction of the constitutional points that come up in any given yr. Rationing the Structure reveals that this easy but regularly ignored truth is important to understanding how the Supreme Court docket makes constitutional legislation.

As a result of structural group of the judiciary and sure broadly shared skilled norms, the capability of the Supreme Court docket to assessment lower-court selections is severely restricted. From this truth, Andrew Coan develops a novel and arresting concept of Supreme Court docket decision-making. In deciding instances, the Court docket should not invite extra litigation than it will probably deal with. On lots of an important constitutional questions―concerning federalism, the separation of powers, and particular person rights―this constraint creates a powerful strain to undertake hard-edged categorical guidelines, or defer to the political course of, or each.

The implications for U.S. constitutional legislation are profound. Legal professionals, teachers, and social activists pursuing social reform via the courts should think about whether or not their targets could be achieved inside the constraints of judicial capability. Typically the reply might be no. The bounds of judicial capability additionally considerably constrain the Court docket’s a lot touted―and regularly lamented―energy to overrule democratic majorities. As Rationing the Structure demonstrates, the Supreme Court docket is David, not Goliath.