John R. Hermann

American Indian Interests and Supreme Court Agenda Setting: 1969-1992 October Terms

A recent development in the judicial behavior literature on Supreme Court agenda setting is the examination of case selection within particular areas of the law. To that end, this study examines the Supreme Courts agenda-building process regarding American Indian Interests as a petitioning litigant during the 1969-1992 October terms. Using a multivariate logistic regression model, the findings indicate that judicial attitudes as manifested by the attitudinal model, the direct and third party briefs filed by the Solicitor Generals office for and against American Indian interests, and the presence of a sovereignty issue were influential explanatory variables in the Supreme Courts case selection process. Contrary to the expectations of this study, however, the petitioning party alleging lower court conflict, dissension, and the number of amici curiae briefs filed in support of, and in opposition to, American Indian interests were not important predictors.

American Indians in Court: The Burger and Rehnquist Years

Abstract The Supreme Court and individual justices’ treatment of American Indian interests has generated relatively little scholarly attention. To fill this void in the extant literature, this study seeks to examine how American Indian interests fared before the Supreme Court of the United States during the Burger and Rehnquist Courts (1969–1992 October terms) and attempts to discern the factors influencing their treatment. The findings indicate that while American Indian interests won 48% of their cases, the Burger Court was much more sympathetic than the Rehnquist Court to the plight of this politically disadvantaged group. The error correcting strategy, the ideological proclivities of the justices, and the issue area being litigated were all influential explanatory variables. Interestingly, the Solicitor General’s Office had an adverse influence when it opposed American Indian interests as a direct or third party, but had little impact when supporting their interests.