Search results for ""Author James L. Gibson""
The University of Chicago Press Electing Judges: The Surprising Effects of Campaigning on Judicial Legitimacy
In "Electing Judges", leading judicial politics scholar James L. Gibson responds to the growing chorus of critics who fear that the politics of running for office undermine judicial independence. While many people have opinions on the topic, few have supported them with actual empirical evidence. Gibson rectifies this situation, offering the most systematic and comprehensive study to date of the impact of campaigns on public perceptions of fairness, impartiality, and the legitimacy of elected state courts - and his findings are both counterintuitive and controversial. Gibson finds that ordinary Americans do not conclude from campaign promises that judges are incapable of making impartial decisions. Instead, he shows, they understand the process of deciding cases to be an exercise in policymaking, rather than of simply applying laws to individual cases - and consequently think it's important for candidates to reveal where they stand on important issues. Negative advertising also turns out to have a limited effect on perceptions of judicial legitimacy, though the same cannot be said for widely hated campaign contributions. Taking both the good and bad into consideration, Gibson argues that elections are ultimately beneficial in boosting the legitimacy of courts, despite the slight negative effects of some campaign activities. "Electing Judges" will initiate a lively debate inside both the halls of justice and the academy.
£28.78
Princeton University Press Citizens, Courts, and Confirmations: Positivity Theory and the Judgments of the American People
In recent years the American public has witnessed several hard-fought battles over nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court. In these heated confirmation fights, candidates' legal and political philosophies have been subject to intense scrutiny and debate. Citizens, Courts, and Confirmations examines one such fight--over the nomination of Samuel Alito--to discover how and why people formed opinions about the nominee, and to determine how the confirmation process shaped perceptions of the Supreme Court's legitimacy. Drawing on a nationally representative survey, James Gibson and Gregory Caldeira use the Alito confirmation fight as a window into public attitudes about the nation's highest court. They find that Americans know far more about the Supreme Court than many realize, that the Court enjoys a great deal of legitimacy among the American people, that attitudes toward the Court as an institution generally do not suffer from partisan or ideological polarization, and that public knowledge enhances the legitimacy accorded the Court. Yet the authors demonstrate that partisan and ideological infighting that treats the Court as just another political institution undermines the considerable public support the institution currently enjoys, and that politicized confirmation battles pose a grave threat to the basic legitimacy of the Supreme Court.
£31.50
Ball Publishing Cutting Propagation: A Guide to Propagating and Producing Floriculture Crops
The latest techniques for propagating crops with terminal, stem, and leaf/stem cuttings are the focus of this horticulture handbook. All the bases are covered—propagation basics, stock plant management, media, temperature, light, nutrition, plant growth regulators, insect and disease management, equipment, and postharvest handling. From these general subjects, the editors focus in on specifics for scores of specialty bedding plants, perennials, specialty cut flowers, and foliage plants. Then they zoom in even closer, covering more than 60 important floriculture crops in detail so propagators and growers can provide high-quality cuttings and young plants to the market.
£51.30
