HNRS-260PS | Judicial Decision Making

Full Title: Social Scientific Reasoining & Judicial Decision Making

Topic Description:

The federal judiciary makes important national policy decisions through its interpretation of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights., yet how this institution functions and how justices and judges decide cases is fundamentally misunderstood by most Americans. In this course, you will use the methodologies of political science to explore and critique leading theories regarding judicial behavior. Specifically, we will use both quantitative and qualitative approaches to test some of the leading theories of judicial behavior—including social background theory, the attitudinal model, and the strategic model of decision making. My goal is to help you develop the necessary tools not only to become an informed and involved member of our democratic system of government, but the analytical skills necessary to understand, explore and critique the functioning of the American judiciary.

Counts as Global? No

Topic Approved: December 2015