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On Being a Lone Dissenter
Author(s) -
Granberg Donald,
Bartels Brandon
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2005.tb02198.x
Subject(s) - supreme court , economic justice , voting , psychology , law , social psychology , political science , politics
Asch's (1956) research on group pressure to conform implied that it is difficult to be a lone dissenter. Extending this to the analysis of voting patterns in the U.S. Supreme Court's 1953‐2001 terms, it was found that of 4,178 decisions, the 8‐1 split was the least common (10%). Unanimous decisions were most common (35%), followed by 5‐4 splits (21%), 6‐3 splits (20%), and 7‐2 splits (14%). Large differences were found among the 29 Justices serving during this period as to how often they were lone dissenters, led by Justice William Douglas, who issued lone dissents on about 6% of the decisions on which he voted.