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An Analysis of Policy‐Based Congressional Responses to the U . S . Supreme Court's Constitutional Decisions
Author(s) -
Blackstone Bethany
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
law and society review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.867
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1540-5893
pISSN - 0023-9216
DOI - 10.1111/lasr.12006
Subject(s) - supreme court , law , legislation , political science , supreme court decisions , constitutional court , constitution
W hile C ongress can attempt to overrule constitutional decisions of the S upreme C ourt by initiating the constitutional amendment process, an amendment is rarely a practicable option. Instead, C ongress regularly tries to modify the impact of constitutional decisions with ordinary legislation. I analyze policy‐based responses to the S upreme C ourt's constitutional decisions that were initiated in C ongress between 1995 and 2010. For each responsive proposal, I consider the relationship between the proposed legislation and the C ourt's legal holding and the relationship between the proposal and the public policy associated with the C ourt's decision. I find that C ongress enjoys considerable success in reversing the policy impacts of the C ourt's decisions but is limited in its ability to overcome the C ourt's legal rules.