Courthouse Democracy and Minority Rights
Subtitle: Same-Sex Marriage in the States
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Incorporated; Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 2013
Language: eng
Number of pages: 230
ISBN-13: 9780199982172
Subjects: Same-sex marriage; Political questions and judicial power; Constitutional law, united states
Description: Robert J. Hume examines how the democratization of state courts and state constitutional systems has influenced the capacity of judges to protect minority rights. Through an intensive examination of same-sex marriage policy, Hume shows that democratic innovations like judicial elections and initiative amendment procedures have conditioned the impact of judges on state marriage laws. Using a combination of original and publicly available data, Hume demonstrates that "courthouse democracy" has influenced the behavior of state judges, the reactions of the public to state court decisions, and the long-term policy consequences of these decisions, including the passage of state constitutional amendments. Hume concludes that judges will be capable of producing meaningful social change-and protecting minority rights-only when they have the institutional resources that they need to stand against popular opinion.--