Electing judges
Subtitle: the surprising effects of campaigning on judicial legitimacy
By: James L. Gibson
Series: Chicago studies in American politics; Chicago studies in American politics
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Chicago; London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 226
ISBN-13: 9780226291079; 9780226291086; 9780226291109
Subjects: Judges; Judicial ethics; Election
Description: "In Electing Judges, James L. Gibson responds to the growing chorus of critics who fear that the politics of running for office undermine judicial independence. While many people have opinions on the topic, few have supported them with empirical evidence. Gibson rectifies this situation, offering the most systematic study to date of the impact of campaigns on public perceptions of fairness, impartiality, and the legitimacy of elected state courts-and his findings are both counterintuitive and controversial"--Page [four] of cover.
Table of contents: title: The "new style" judicial elections in the American states; title: Republican Party of Minnesota v. White and perceptions of judicial impartiality; title: Can campaign activity cross the line?; title: Diffuse support for a state supreme court: judicial legitimacy in Kentucky; title: Expectancy theory and judicial legitimacy; title: Judges, elections, and the American mass public: the effects of judicial campaigns on the legitimacy of courts; title: Judicial campaigns, elections for judges, and court legitimacy: do judicial elections really stink?; title: Appendix A: legal developments post-White; title: Appendix B: the surveys; title: Appendix C: experimental vignettes; title: Appendix D: question wording; title: Appendix E: the distributions of key analytical variables; title: Appendix F: interactive analysis; title: Appendix G: measuring support for democratic institutions and processes; title: Appendix H: question wording; title: Appendix I: adding control variables.