Wednesday, May 07, 2014

Ideology drives Supreme Court First Amendment decisons

This new study by respected researchers suggests that Supreme Court Justices tend to support the First Amendment more when the speaker's views are consistent with the Justice's ideological leanings. The study suggests that the Court's conservatives are more guilty than the liberals.  Like many court watchers, these researchers and this blogger contend that a Justice's ideology (irrespective of whether the Justice leans left or right) drives their decisions in "hot button" cases more often than the facts, precedents, etc.  I would be nice to have a few more "Justices" on the Court and a few less ideologues of any stripe.

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