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The Costs of Policy Legitimation: A Test of the Political Capital Hypothesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2022

David Fontana  and
Christopher N. Krewson
David Fontana
Affiliation:
The George Washington University Law School, Washington, DC, USA
Christopher N. Krewson*
Affiliation:
Political Science Department, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: chris_krewson@byu.edu
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Abstract

We test the political capital hypothesis that Supreme Court decisions simultaneously legitimate policy and harm support for the Court, at least under certain conditions. Our data suggest that the Court’s “legitimacy-conferring” capacity is weak. Learning that the Supreme Court upheld an affirmative action policy increased public support for the constitutionality and desirability of that policy, but only among Democrats pre-disposed towards that reaction. Furthermore, Democrats did not develop more favorable views of the Court. Consistent with the political capital hypothesis, Republicans developed more negative views of the Court when the Court associated itself with affirmative action policy.

Keywords

Supreme CourtLegitimacyPolicy LegitimationNegativity Bias
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Law and Courts , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , October 2023 , pp. 277 - 289
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Law and Courts Organized Section of the American Political Science Association

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