Digital Commons Network^™

Split Definitive, Lawrence Baum, Neal Devins

Neal E. Devins

For the first time in a century, the Supreme Court is divided solely by political party.

Romney And Huntsman: Two Answers To The 'Mormon Question', Nathan B. Oman

Nathan B. Oman

No abstract provided.

Prosperity Versus Equality At The Polls, Nathan B. Oman

Nathan B. Oman

No abstract provided.

Without Compromise, Fixing Deficit Is A Fairy Tale, Nathan B. Oman

Nathan Oman

No abstract provided.

The Mormon Plot That Wasn't, Nathan B. Oman

Nathan B. Oman

No abstract provided.

The End Of The Great Fiscal Compromise, Nathan B. Oman

Nathan B. Oman

No abstract provided.

The Misunderstood Alliance: Defining The American And Pakistani Relationship, Zachary Joseph Shapiro

Joseph I Shapiro MD

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Litigation Reform: An Institutional Approach, Stephen B. Burbank, Sean Farhang

Sean Farhang

The program of regulation through private litigation that Democratic Congresses purposefully created starting in the late 1960s soon met opposition emanating primarily from the Republican party. In the long campaign for retrenchment that began in the Reagan administration, consequential reform proved difficult and ultimately failed in Congress. Litigation reformers turned to the courts and, in marked contrast to their legislative failure, were well-rewarded, achieving growing rates of voting support from an increasingly conservative Supreme Court on issues curtailing private enforcement under individual statutes. We also demonstrate that the judiciary’s control of procedure has been central to the campaign to retrench …

The Role Of Religiously Affiliated Law Schools In The Renewal Of American Democracy, Bruce Ledewitz

Bruce Ledewitz

“(Un)Conventional Wisdom And Presidential Politics: The Myth Of Convention Bumps And Favorite Son Vice-Presidents”, David A. Schultz

David A Schultz

Conventional wisdom pervades US presidential politics. Among "old politicians' tales" are that a political party's placement of a national convention in a state can affecting presidential voting there, swinging or flipping it to its presidential candidate. Second, that the selection of a vice-presidential candidate as a favorite son (or daughter) will deliver a state's electoral votes to a presidential ticket. This article examines the placement of national party conventions and selection of vice-presidential candidates for Democratic and Republican Parties since 1948. It finds that presidential candidates do not earn a state bump or advantage by either locating a national convention …

An Observation On The Supreme Court Decision Of Prayer In Public Schools, Engel Vs. Vitale, David C. Taylor Jr

David C Taylor Jr

This paper explores areas of the 1962 Supreme Court decision of Engel vs. Vitale on the subject of Prayer in public schools. There will be a discussion of the historical background, the arguments given, and the support given for the basis of the Court’s decision. There will also be a discussion on the dissenting view of the Court, and a discussion of whether or not this was a liberal or conservative approach to interpreting the Constitution of the United States.

Don’T’ Know Much About History: Constitutional Text, Practice, And Presidential Power, David A. Schultz

David A Schultz

Assertions of presidential supremacy and power in affairs often invoke history, including events during the administration of George Washington, to defend their assertions. This article raises some questions regarding what we can learn from history for constitutional argument. It concedes generally that historical facts can support or buttress constitution argument, but more specifically it contends that acts undertaken by George Washington are problematic assertions for presidential power, especially those that assert “supremacist” or broad if not exclusive claims for presidential foreign policy authority. To do that, this article first describes how history is employed as constitutional argument for presidential power. …

Contesting The Dinosaur Image: The Labor Movement’S Search For A Future, Richard W. Hurd

Richard W Hurd

[Excerpt] But the increased effectiveness of labor's political activities has not resulted in major improvements legislatively, and now there is a hostile President who opposes nearly every aspect of the union policy agenda. The promise for the future lies in the demonstrated ability to mobilize at the grassroots. But there are recent signs that national unions are breaking ranks and pursuing narrow self interest. The USWA joined with the steel industry to persuade the Bush administration to restrict imports, and even hinted at a possible endorsement for his reelection in 2004 (Murray). The UMWA has praised the president's energy policy, …

'Rally Round The Flag’ Events For Presidential Approval Research, Brian Newman, Andrew Forcehimes

Brian Newman

Since Mueller's [Mueller, J., 1970. Presidential popularity from Truman to Johnson. The American Political Science Review 64 (1), 18-34.] pioneering study, students of presidential approval ratings have agreed that major events affect these ratings. Despite this consensus, there is wide divergence in the ways that scholars have selected events for inclusion in models of approval ratings. This inconsistency inhibits direct comparisons across studies and raises the possibility that results are contingent on those selection criteria. Thus, what we have learned about the impact of various factors that may affect approval may depend on the details of selection criteria. Practically, scholars …

Public Responses To Health Disparities: How Group Cues Structure Support For Government Intervention, Elizabeth Rigby, Joe Soss, Bridget Booske, Angela Rohan, Stephanie Roberts

Elizabeth Rigby

OBJECTIVE. To examine whether public support for government intervention to address health disparities varies when disparities are framed in terms of different social groups. METHOD. A survey experiment was embedded in a public opinion poll of Wisconsin adults. Respondents were randomly assigned to answer questions about either racial, economic, or education disparities in health. Ordered logit regression analyses examine differences across experimental conditions in support for government intervention to address health disparities. RESULTSs. Health disparities between economic groups received the broadest support for government intervention, while racial disparities in health received the least support for government intervention. These differences were …

Are Voters Better Represented?, Brian Newman, John D. Griffin

Brian Newman

Studies of political participation and representation often contend that elected officials respond more to the preferences of voters than those of nonvoters, but seldom test this claim. This is a critical assumption because if true, biases in who participates will lead to biased representation. Office holders might respond disproportionately to voters’ preferences because voters tend to select like-minded representatives, voters tend to communicate their preferences more, and only voters can reelect representatives. We find that voter preferences predict the aggregate roll-call behavior of Senators while nonvoter preferences do not. We also present evidence supporting the three explanations advanced to account …

The Opacity Of Transparency, Mark Fenster

Mark Fenster

Presidential Traits And Job Approval: Some Aggregate-Level Evidence., Brian Newman

Brian Newman

In a previous article in this journal, Cohen (2001) introduced time series measures of public perceptions of Bill Clinton's personal characteristics. Here, I explore the political impact of these perceptions, asking whether they affect the public's evaluations of presidential job performance. I find that they do, adding aggregate-level support to existing individual-level evidence of the importance of character assessments. Finding a connection between character perceptions and job approval in the aggregate time series context helps answer questions previous studies leave unresolved, with significant implications for our understanding of presidential approval and presidential politics more generally. [First paragraph]

Fdr To Clinton, Mueller To ?: A Field Essay On Presidential Approval, Brian Newman, Paul Gronke

Brian Newman

Since the 1930s, polling organizations have asked Americans whether they "approve or disapprove of the job [the incumbent] is doing as president." In the early 1970s, John Mueller started an academic industry by asking what drives these evaluations. American politics and the tools available to examine it have changed dramatically since then, inspiring a burst of research on presidential approval in the 1990s. We review this new body of literature, arguing that it builds on but differs importantly from earlier approval studies. Since Mueller's writing, scholars have expanded his relatively simple model, taking account of presidents' goals and personal characteristics, …

Buffalo Beat Op-Eds, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn