The American Public's Assessment of the Rehnquist Court

Abstract:     
This paper examines patterns of public approval and support for the Rehnquist Court over the year's of William Rehnquist's tenure as Chief Justice. The analysis draws on a variety of data series. The results of the analysis show that it is difficult to draw clear or strong conclusions about variations in public approval over time: specific patterns varied from series to series. While there appears to be a pattern of decline in support for the Court over the period of Rehnquist's leadership, it may be part of a broader decline in support for national governmental institutions. In the last years of Rehnquist's service, Republicans tended to have a higher level of support than did Democrats; while one might be inclined to attribute that to the public's reaction to Bush v. Gore, the overall patterns do not support that conclusion.

Keywords: public opinion, Supreme Court, Rehnquist Court

Accepted Paper Series