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Sociology

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Theses/Dissertations

2013

Supreme Court oral argument

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Constructing Legal Meaning In The Supreme Court Oral Arguments: Cultural Codes And Border Disputes, Jeffrey Forest Hilbert Jan 2013

Constructing Legal Meaning In The Supreme Court Oral Arguments: Cultural Codes And Border Disputes, Jeffrey Forest Hilbert

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Culture plays a part in the construction of legal understandings in the Supreme Court contrary to much legal scholarship. The oral argument of the Supreme Court is a unique way for Justices to gather information beyond the formalized briefs and prior written opinions. In the oral argument the Supreme Court Justices utilize cultural codes as tools to probe, shape, negotiate and challenge the legal meanings and boundaries of the case before them. Using the oral argument transcript in a 2010 Supreme Court case on the issue of whether California has the right to censor the sale of violent video games …