Minority groups and judicial legitimacy: group affect and the incentives for judicial responsiveness
- 2018
- p.270-283.
This paper introduces a new perspective into the literature on judicial legitimacy by examining the incentives for courts to cater to a popular majority and offering a novel model of legitimacy that has consequences for judicial responsiveness. The account integrates into the literature classic research on how strategic social groups shape public opinion. I theorize that citizens use their perceptions of the judiciary�s support for various social groups as a means to assess the institution overall. From this insight, I derive specific expectations about the conditions under which the Supreme Court�s protection of minority groups like gays and immigrants can damage its legitimacy. Using national survey data, I demonstrate that dislike for the beneficiaries of recent Court rulings systematically diminishes the institution�s legitimacy. The influence of these group-based considerations shapes individual-level attitude change and can be observed at various points in time. - Reproduced.