Description
Book SynopsisIn Courthouse Democracy and Minority Rights: Same-Sex Marriage in the States, Robert J. Hume examines how the democratization of state courts and state constitutional systems has influenced the capacity of judges to protect minority rights. Through an intensive examination of same-sex marriage policy, Hume shows that democratic innovations like judicial elections and initiative amendment procedures have conditioned the impact of judges on state marriage laws. Using a combination of original and publicly available data, Hume demonstrates that courthouse democracy has influenced the behavior of state judges, the reactions of the public to state court decisions, and the long-term policy consequences of these decisions, including the passage of state constitutional amendments. Hume concludes that judges will be capable of producing meaningful social change-and protecting minority rights-only when they have the institutional resources that they need to stand against popular opinion.
Trade Review"With lots of footnotes, plenty of charts and graphs, and the expected numbers-crunching, Courtroom Democracy and Minority Rights is clearly intended for fellow academics, grad students, and senior political science majors. However, a general reader can learn plenty from the book." -- Blake Maddux, DigBoston.com "The state same-sex marriage cases offer lessons about the capacities of state courts to bring about dramatic policy changes (lessons that Hume derives from solid research and skillful analysis of existing and his own original data). In addition, Hume offers a plausible argument that state courts were the catalysts that made same-sex marriage possible." -- Philip A. Dynia, The Law and Politics Book Review
Table of ContentsPreface ; Part One: Introduction ; Chapter 1: Promises, Promises ; Chapter 2: Understanding the Impact of State Supreme Courts ; Part Two: The Legal Context ; Chapter 3: Early Same-Sex Marriage Decisions ; Chapter 4: Massachusetts and Beyond ; Part Three: An Analysis of State Judicial Impact ; Chapter 5: Policy Initiation: The Diffusion of Same-Sex Marriage ; Cases Across the States ; Chapter 6: Policy Legitimation: Evaluating the Capacity of State ; Courts to Change Public Opinion ; Chapter 7: Policy Endurance: The Enactment of State Constitutional ; Amendments Prohibiting Same-Sex Marriage ; Chapter 8: The Promise of State Courts ; Works Cited
