Thomas G. Hansford is assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Merced. James F. Spriggs, II, is professor of political science at Washington University in St. Louis. He is the coauthor of "Crafting Law on the Supreme Court", which won the C. Herman Pritchett Award, given annually by the American Political Science Association for the best book on law and courts by a political scientist.

"[This book] emphasize[s] the notion that judges' behavior is not purely policy driven, but rather must be evaluated in the light of other institutional and personal factors that may shape behavior beyond attitudes... [T]he influence of institutional factors (in the form of the importance of institutional legitimacy) has an instrumental or even strategic component: the justices recognize that to render their policy pronouncements most effective, they must cite vital precedent."--Stefanie A. Lindquist, Law and Politics Book Review "The authors have done a commendable job in showing how both law and politics matter when the Supreme Court interprets precedent... [Their] uncluttered explanation of the substance of their theory and findings makes The Politics of Precedent accessible to any student of the Supreme Court."--Mark S. Hurwitz, Political Science Quarterly "There is much to like in this book. The empirical analysis is carefully executed and accessible even to those without training in higher-level statistics... [This book] will be of interest to scholars of the judiciary, and [it] will be cited regularly and routinely assigned in graduate classes in judicial politics."--Chris W. Bonneau, Perspectives on Politics

• List of Figures and Tables ix Acknowledgments xi Chapter One: Introduction 1 Chapter Two: Explaining the Interpretation of Precedent 16 Chapter Three: Measuring the Interpretation of Precedent 43 Chapter Four: The Interpretation of Precedent over Time 55 Chapter Five: The Overruling of Precedent 78 Chapter Six: The Interpretation of Precedent in Majority Opinions 93 Chapter Seven: Lower Federal Court Responses to the Supreme Court's Interpretation of Precedent 109 Chapter Eight: Concluding Remarks and Broader Implications 124 Appendix 135 References 139 Index 151

Thomas G. Hansford is assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Merced. James F. Spriggs, II, is professor of political science at Washington University in St. Louis. He is the coauthor of "Crafting Law on the Supreme Court", which won the C. Herman Pritchett Award, given annually by the American Political Science Association for the best book on law and courts by a political scientist.

"[This book] emphasize[s] the notion that judges' behavior is not purely policy driven, but rather must be evaluated in the light of other institutional and personal factors that may shape behavior beyond attitudes... [T]he influence of institutional factors (in the form of the importance of institutional legitimacy) has an instrumental or even strategic component: the justices recognize that to render their policy pronouncements most effective, they must cite vital precedent."--Stefanie A. Lindquist, Law and Politics Book Review "The authors have done a commendable job in showing how both law and politics matter when the Supreme Court interprets precedent... [Their] uncluttered explanation of the substance of their theory and findings makes The Politics of Precedent accessible to any student of the Supreme Court."--Mark S. Hurwitz, Political Science Quarterly "There is much to like in this book. The empirical analysis is carefully executed and accessible even to those without training in higher-level statistics... [This book] will be of interest to scholars of the judiciary, and [it] will be cited regularly and routinely assigned in graduate classes in judicial politics."--Chris W. Bonneau, Perspectives on Politics

• List of Figures and Tables ix Acknowledgments xi Chapter One: Introduction 1 Chapter Two: Explaining the Interpretation of Precedent 16 Chapter Three: Measuring the Interpretation of Precedent 43 Chapter Four: The Interpretation of Precedent over Time 55 Chapter Five: The Overruling of Precedent 78 Chapter Six: The Interpretation of Precedent in Majority Opinions 93 Chapter Seven: Lower Federal Court Responses to the Supreme Court's Interpretation of Precedent 109 Chapter Eight: Concluding Remarks and Broader Implications 124 Appendix 135 References 139 Index 151

Thomas G. Hansford is assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Merced. James F. Spriggs, II, is professor of political science at Washington University in St. Louis. He is the coauthor of "Crafting Law on the Supreme Court", which won the C. Herman Pritchett Award, given annually by the American Political Science Association for the best book on law and courts by a political scientist.

"[This book] emphasize[s] the notion that judges' behavior is not purely policy driven, but rather must be evaluated in the light of other institutional and personal factors that may shape behavior beyond attitudes... [T]he influence of institutional factors (in the form of the importance of institutional legitimacy) has an instrumental or even strategic component: the justices recognize that to render their policy pronouncements most effective, they must cite vital precedent."--Stefanie A. Lindquist, Law and Politics Book Review "The authors have done a commendable job in showing how both law and politics matter when the Supreme Court interprets precedent... [Their] uncluttered explanation of the substance of their theory and findings makes The Politics of Precedent accessible to any student of the Supreme Court."--Mark S. Hurwitz, Political Science Quarterly "There is much to like in this book. The empirical analysis is carefully executed and accessible even to those without training in higher-level statistics... [This book] will be of interest to scholars of the judiciary, and [it] will be cited regularly and routinely assigned in graduate classes in judicial politics."--Chris W. Bonneau, Perspectives on Politics

• List of Figures and Tables ix Acknowledgments xi Chapter One: Introduction 1 Chapter Two: Explaining the Interpretation of Precedent 16 Chapter Three: Measuring the Interpretation of Precedent 43 Chapter Four: The Interpretation of Precedent over Time 55 Chapter Five: The Overruling of Precedent 78 Chapter Six: The Interpretation of Precedent in Majority Opinions 93 Chapter Seven: Lower Federal Court Responses to the Supreme Court's Interpretation of Precedent 109 Chapter Eight: Concluding Remarks and Broader Implications 124 Appendix 135 References 139 Index 151