Читать книгу Justice Rehnquist, the Supreme Court, and the Bill of Rights - Steven T. Seitz - Страница 20

The court changes its personnel slower than the other branches of government. Besides personnel, another direct force for change is the societal environment itself, ranging from current economic conditions through changing technologies to change of personnel in other branches of government. The court, as intended, caves little to these direct effects. Several indirect ways may change judicial activity. Two of these are justiciability and the selection of cases the court puts on its docket each year. The Rehnquist era considered 20–25 percent more cases than the Roberts Court. The court’s composition is important because four justices determine what goes on the court docket. The rules of justiciability are sufficiently flexible that they serve as intended gateway blocks to decision. There are cases, such as Scalia’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), that stand out because the decision is highly political or ideological. They prove the rule. The single most important force at work in judicial decision-making is stare decisis. Some indirectly personal decision-making, particularly the exercise of justiciability and choice of cases, make semi-routine difference. The cause most championed by political scientists, the political and ideological orientation of the individual justices, is the most infrequent. The court has limited political capital and venting idiosyncrasies is a burden the court cannot sustain.