2008 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Sunday, April 6-10:00 am
40-18 BILL SPONSORSHIP ANALYSIS
Room PDR 7 on the 3rd Floor, Sun at 10:00 am
Chair Nancy Martorano, University of Dayton
Nancy.Martorano@notes.udayton.edu
Paper Resume of Legislative Activity: Bill Introduction in the Senate,
1947-2004
The ability of legislative institutions to produce public policy
depends on the willingness of members to introduce legislation.
In this paper, I explore the individual and institutional factors that
influence the number of bills senators introduce.
Craig Goodman, Texas Tech University
craig.goodman@ttu.edu
Paper Legislative Problem-Solving: Explaining Bill Sponsorship in
Congress
We develop a model of "legislative problem-solving" that explains
variation in congressional bill sponsorship across members and
across time. Using a new data set, we explore the bill sponsorship of
every voting member of Congress from 1947 to 1998.
Matthew Bartholomew Platt, University of Rochester
plat@mail.rochester.edu
Valeria Sinclair-Chapman, University of Rochester
vsan@mail.rochester.edu
Paper Female Legislators: Women's Issues Agenda Setting in Russian
Duma
This paper examines gender and party role in bill initiation in
Russia’s Duma (1994-2003); policy area chosen: women’s issues.
Raminta Stockute, University of Kansas
Raminta@ku.edu
Paper Modeling Committee Outcomes: The Decision-Making Process
and Bill Success
This paper examines the decision-making process in House
committees by modeling committee outcomes as the result of
two events;committee consideration and committee approval.
The results indicate that significant differences exist between
committees.
Kami Whitehurst, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
kwhite@siu.edu
Disc. Nancy Martorano, University of Dayton
Nancy.Martorano@notes.udayton.edu
Nancy Martorano, University of Dayton
Nancy.Martorano@notes.udayton.edu
42-18 CHANGING CONCEPTIONS OF RIGHTS
Room PDR 5 on the 3rd Floor, Sun at 10:00 am
Chair Charles Anthony Smith, University of California, Irvine
tonysmithuci@gmail.com
Paper Towards a Multivariate Model to Explain Changes of Rights
Litigation and Protection Comparatively
This paper proposes a cross-national, multivariate model to
assess changes in rights protection at high courts, incorporating
institutions, support structures, and judicial ideology as the key
covariates.
Raul Sanchez Urribari, University of South Carolina
sanchezu@mailbox.sc.edu
Donald Songer, University of South Carolina
dsonger@sc.edu
Susanne Schorpp, University of South Carolina
schorpp@mailbox.sc.edu
Paper Congress, Ex parte Young, and the Fate of the Three-Judge
District Court
In 1910 Congress responded to Ex parte Young case by enacting the
three-judge district court. Civil rights plaintiffs came to favor the
case and the use of such courts. But the court eventually fell into
disfavor and Congress limited its use in 1976.
Michael E. Solimine, University of Cincinnati
michael.solimine@uc.edu
Disc.
Charles Anthony Smith, University of California, Irvine
tonysmithuci@gmail.com
42-22 STATE LAW ISSUES AND DOCTRINE
Room PDR 6 on the 3rd Floor, Sun at 10:00 am
Chair Joshua C. Wilson, John Jay College, CUNY
jcwilson@jjay.cuny.edu
Chair Joshua C. Wilson, John Jay College, CUNY
jcwilson@jjay.cuny.edu
Paper State Success in State Supreme Courts
I investigate the determinants of state success in state supreme
courts. Using the Brace and Hall data set with data from all 50 state
courts of last resort, I analyze the ways in which state participation
influences judicial behavior.
Banks Prescott Miller, Ohio State University
miller.3676@osu.edu
Paper The Strategic Interaction of State Actors: The Battle Over Tort
Reform
This paper tests hypotheses derived from a formal state separation
of powers model in the context of tort reform. It examines whether
legislators make strategic calculations when enacting statutes in
anticipation of judicial review.
Jenna E. Lukasik, Vanderbilt University
jenna.e.lukasik@Vanderbilt.edu
Paper Resource Inequalities and Institutional Bias in State Supreme
Courts
To test whether courts respond to resourced parties in a manner
similar to other political institutions, we use the decisions of state
supreme courts derived from the State Supreme Court Data Base to
assess litigation outcomes across the 50 states.
Tao Lotus Dumas, Louisiana State University
pohayn@lsu.edu
Stacia L. Haynie, Louisiana State University
pohayn@lsu.edu
Disc. Joseph S. Devaney, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay
68Devaney@cua.edu
43-6 COURTS: IMPACT ON SOCIAL POLICY
Room UEH 413 on the 4th Floor, Sun at 10:00 am
Chair Laura J. Hatcher, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
hatcher@siu.edu
Paper Whose Justice Prosecution and Defense Reactions to Capital
Case Reversals
Prosecutors and defense attorneys are court officers with a duty to
promote justice, but they have different professional commitments
and incentives. We investigate their reported reactions to reversals
in death penalty cases, 1981-2000.
Paul Parker, Truman State University
parker@truman.edu
Ben Coate, Truman State University
bdc707@truman.edu
Paper Legal Impact Via Targeted Learning and Policy Diffusion in
Higher Ed
Legal changes confront actors with complicated policy decisions
which are best navigated by learning and borrowing ideas from
others' in a systematic way which shapes legal impact. This paper
used evidence from university responses to legal changes.
David Matthew Glick, Princeton University
dglick@princeton.edu
Paper Group Homes in Gridlock: Using the Courts to Obtain Housing
Rights
Group home operators have used different legal approaches to
maintain their housing rights. This paper investigates the relative
impact of these legal tactics on securing stable housing in singlefamily
neighborhoods.
Alison Gash, University of California, Berkeley
aligash@berkeley.edu
346