The President and the Supreme Court

Examines the relationship between the president and the Supreme Court, including how presidents view the norm of judicial independence.

This first-of-its-kind book speaks to key normative and empirical issues in American government. It will appeal to those interested in the president, the Supreme Court, and judicial independence, including scholars; undergraduate, graduate, and law students; members of the media; and the well-educated general public.When presidents take positions on pending Supreme Court cases or criticize the Court's decisions, they are susceptible to being attacked for acting as bullies and violating the norm of judicial independence. Why then do presidents target Supreme Court decisions in their public appeals? In this book, Paul M. Collins, Jr and Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha argue that presidents discuss the Court's decisions to demonstrate their responsiveness to important matters of public policy and to steer the implementation of the Court's decisions. Using data from Washington to Trump, they show that, far from being bullies, presidents discuss cases to promote their re-election, policy goals, and historical legacies, while attempting to affect the impact of Court decisions on the bureaucracy, Congress, the media, and the public.