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SELF‐CONSCIOUS INTEREST AND THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS: The Case of Citizens, Regulatory Agencies, and Federal Courts
Author(s) -
STEWART CHARLES V.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
law and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.534
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1467-9930
pISSN - 0265-8240
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9930.1979.tb00196.x
Subject(s) - scrap , supreme court , agency (philosophy) , law , democracy , political science , process (computing) , law and economics , public administration , sociology , politics , engineering , mechanical engineering , social science , computer science , operating system
Federal courts play an increasingly overt role in the American policy process. The implications of this judicial activism have attracted considerable scholarly attention, with recent literature casting doubt on the capacity of courts to be productive in this role. This article draws out some of these concerns as well as posits a few counterpoints. After raising both sides of the issue, the article focuses on one complex Supreme Court decision, United States v. Students Challenging Regulatory Agency Procedure (SCRAP I, 1973) and its sequel, Aberdeen and Rockfish Railroad v. SCRAP (SCRAP II, 1975), as vehicles for illustrating and evaluating major questions posed by an active judiciary.