Overview

This book presents a quantitative history of constitutional law in the United States and brings together humanistic and social-scientific approaches to studying law. Using theoretical models of adjudication, Tom S. Clark presents a statistical model of law and uses the model to document the historical development of constitutional law. Using sophisticated statistical methods and historical analysis of court decisions, the author documents how social and political forces shape the path of law. Spanning the history of constitutional law since Reconstruction, this book illustrates the way in which the law evolves with American life and argues that a social-scientific approach to the history of law illuminates connections across disparate areas of the law, connected by the social context in which the Constitution has been interpreted.

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9781108422765

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'... this excellent book is positioned to significantly influence the path of future scholarship. First, it stands out as a model of how rigorous social scientific methods can enhance a detailed historical treatment of decision making on the Supreme Court. Clark also shines a spotlight on the question of how constitutional decision making may play out in an increasingly polarized political system - both external to the Court and among the justices themselves.' Patrick C. Wohlfarth, Law and Politics Book Review

Author Information

Tom S. Clark is Charles Howard Candler Professor of Political Science at Emory University, Atlanta. His research focuses on judicial decision-making and his recent work has focused on the development of law. His first book, The Limits of Judicial Independence (Cambridge, 2010), won the William Riker Award for the best book in political economy from the American Political Science Association.

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