Political Power and the Ability to Win Supreme Court Decisions

Litigants classified herein as possessing "superior" political power won almost twice as many opinions in the Supreme Court as litigants classified as possessing "inferior" political power. Their tendency to do so, however, declined since 1946. These findings and the factors possibly associated with them are explored in this article. A MERICAN society is composed of a variety of groups, and the extent to which each is able to influence the political realm is known as its political power.' The amount of political power possessed by each group varies and may appear either as Potential force (power present but not intentionally being exerted) or asforce (power present and intentionally being exerted). Further political force may be employed legally (within the limits set by law) or illegally (outside the limits set by law). This study deals with, potential political force and legal political force and is concerned with the responses which these two forms of political power receive from one branch of the political realm, namely, the judiciary.2 Sutherland and Reckless point out that members of powerful groups. are less liable to be acted upon by both police and courts than are members of less powerful groups.3 In this differential treatment the effects of potential force are noted, in that members of more powerful groups are less frequently suspected of crime and, when they are, they tend to receive more courteous treatment than members of less powerful groups. The effects of legal force are also noted in that members of powerful groups, because of their superior ability to acquire skilled legal help, are less frequently detained, indicted, and convicted than the less powerful and, when they are convicted, they often receive less severe punishment. Although this relationship between possessing * For many valuable suggestions, the author is indebted to Dr. Jessie Bernard of The Pennsylvania State University. A more detailed account of the research on which this report is based can be found in the author's Ph.D. dissertation, A Quantitative Analysis of Supreme Court Opinions from 1921 to 1953: A Study of the Responses of an Institution Engaged in Resolving Social Conflict (The Pennsylvania State University, 1956). 1 Political power may be derived from several sources (i.e., power accrued from social status or economic wealth may be converted into political power). Our concern here is with political power regardless of the sources from which it may have been derived. 2 In the legislative branch of the political realm, the effects of the potential political force of groups may be seen in the reluctance of representatives and senators to act in any manner which might offend a powerful group (and consequently result in the loss of a large block of votes) while the effects of the legal political force of groups emerge through such procedures as voting and lobbying on the part of the group themselves. 3 For a full discussion of the preferential treatment received by powerful groups, see: Edwin H. Sutherland and Donald R. Cressey, Principles of Criminology (New York: J. B. Lippencott Co., 1955), chap. 15; Edwin H. Sutherland, White Collar Crime (New York: The Dryden Press, 1949), chaps. 3 and 4; Walter C. Reckless, The Crime Problem (New York: Appleton Century-Crofts, Inc., 1950), chap. 3. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.153 on Mon, 19 Sep 2016 05:14:48 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms