Judicial Process and Judicial Policymaking

Abstract

JUDICIAL PROCESS AND JUDICIAL POLICYMAKING focuses on policy in its discussion of the judicial process. The author's approach is based on four major premises: 1) that courts in the U.S. have always played an important role in governing and that their role has increased in recent decades; 2) that judicial policymaking is a distinctive activity; 3) that courts make policy in a variety of ways; and 4) that courts may be the objects of public policy, as well as creators. Rather than limit the text to coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court, G. Alan Tarr examines the judiciary as the third branch of government. Then he brings students into the debate by asking them to form their own evaluations of the organization, function, and impact of the courts on and within government.