Professors Braman and Fontana in The New Republic
Professors Donald Braman and David Fontana are co-authors of the article “Supreme Anxiety: Do controversial court decisions really inspire the backlash liberals fear?” in the February 2nd issue of The New Republic. Don and David conducted a survey “to discover whether the American people react differently to a Supreme Court decision on a controversial issue, as opposed to an act of Congress,” in order to test the assumption that the public responds with a “fiercer and more lasting backlash” to the former. Don and David discuss changing public perceptions of the Court’s role over the decades as well as their findings. It’s a fascinating look at public attitudes to Supreme Court decision making, one that challenges much conventional wisdom about the Court. The New Republic article also serves as a preview of a longer scholarly article on the same subject that will appear soon in the Columbia Law Review.
