2008 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Friday, April 4-8:00 am
42-7 THE JUDGES PRESIDENTS MAKE
Room UEH 400 on the 4th Floor, Fri at 8:00 am
Chair Tobias T. Gibson, Monmouth College
tgibson@monm.edu
Paper Picking Bulls or Bears: Judicial Appointments and Executive
Economic Policy
This paper examines the relationship between a president's
economic policy preferences and their judicial appointees' behaviors
in economic cases, exploring the president's potential for long term
policy influence through judicial nominations.
Todd A. Collins, Western Carolina University
todd.a.collins@gmail.com
Paper Supreme Court Nomination Politics in Presidential Election
Campaigns
In this paper, I systematically analyze the conditions under which
US Supreme Court nomination politics become an important issue
in presidential election campaigns.
Christine L. Nemacheck, College of William & Mary
clnema@wm.edu
Paper The Politics of Supreme Court Nominations: Revisited
Using additional data and revised measures of ideological
preferences, this paper re-examines the empirical results presented
by Moraski and Shipan (1999).
Scott A. Hendrickson, Elizabethtown College
hendricksons@etown.edu
Paper Into the Breach: Interest Group Response to the Bush Supreme
Court Nominees
This paper examines interest group activity in response to the
nominations of John Roberts, Harriet Miers, and Samuel Alito.
More than 3,000 e-mails to group members are used to discern the
goals, strategies, and responses of these organizations.
Richard Lee Vining, University of Georgia
rvining@uga.edu
Disc. Tobias T. Gibson, Monmouth College
tgibson@monm.edu
42-20 DECISION MAKING AND DOCTRINE
Room UEH 408 on the 4th Floor, Fri at 8:00 am
Chair Sean Farhang, University of California, Berkeley
farhang@berkeley.edu
Paper Constitutionalizing Education Rights in the United States
This paper investigates the political origins and consequences of
education rights’ inclusion in state constitutions. It asks how these
provisions have been used to influence state policy and describes
the changes and continuity in their use.
Emily Zackin, Princeton University
ezackin@princeton.edu
Paper The Treatment of Gender-Related Decisions in Common Law
High Courts
This study examines the treatment of gender-related decisions in
common law high courts, with specific emphasis on decisions of the
Supreme Court of Canada
Susan W. Johnson, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
swjohnso@uncg.edu
Paper First Amendment Rights and Sexual Orientation Harassment in
Schools
While a state court held that students have a First Amendment
right to oppose gay rights, other courts have held that gay students
have a First Amendment right to express their orientation in a safe
environment. How can these rights be balanced
Sarah Skowronski, Loyola University, Chicago
sskowr1@luc.edu
Paper
Disc.
The Diminishing Docket: Variation in the Supreme Court's
Docket
We use a dataset that contains the number of cases that the Supreme
Court took in each year from 1953 through 2005 to test various
explanations that the media and scholars have given to explain the
decline in the Supreme Court's docket.
Forrest Maltzman, George Washington University
forrest@gwu.edu
Kenneth W. Moffett, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville
kmoffet@siue.edu
Charles R Shipan, University of Michigan
cshipan@umich.edu
Sean Farhang, University of California, Berkeley
farhang@berkeley.edu
43-5 ABORTION: JUDGES, DOCTRINE AND PUBLIC
OPINION (Co-sponsored with Judicial Politics, see
42-31)
Room PDR 8 on the 3rd Floor, Fri at 8:00 am
Chair Michael W. Combs, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Paper
Paper
Paper
Paper
Disc.
mcombs@unl.edu
Still Struggling: Anthony Kennedy and Abortion
This paper explains Kennedy’s abortion behavior by using the
Blackmun Papers and traces his rhetoric to papal sources. His
opinions struggle to reconcile a duty to enforce liberty and a desire
to allow government to express respect for fetal life.
Frank J. Colucci, Purdue University, Calumet
coluccif@calumet.purdue.edu
Unburdened: Adjudication of Abortion Cases at the U.S. Courts
of Appeals
This paper seeks to examine the impact of Supreme Court doctrine
and shifting jurisprudence in abortion cases on Courts of Appeals
decision-making.
Maxwell H.H. Mak, Stony Brook University
mmak@ic.sunysb.edu
Clerkish Control of Carhart
This paper hypothesizes that the theory and content of Section IV of
Justice Kennedy's opinion in Gonzales vs. Carhart were largely the
work of one of the widely recognized ‘more conservative’ crop of
clerks who worked for the Justice during OT06.
Helen J. Knowles, SUNY, Oswego
knowles@oswego.edu
The President, The Senate and Judicial Voting Behavior in
Abortion Cases
This paper is a comprehensive study of judicial decision-making
in abortion cases in the U.S. Federal District Courts to better
understand all factors that are involved in decision-making in cases
surrounding highly salient issues.
McKinzie Craig, Texas A&M University
mcc0039@gmail.com
Erin Ackerman, John Jay College, CUNY
eackerman@jjay.cuny.edu
45-6 BUDGETING AND SPENDING
Room Suite 9-250 on the 9th Floor, Fri at 8:00 am
Chair Martial Foucault, University of Montreal
martial.foucault@umontreal.ca
Paper The Tax Revolt Contagion: Assessing the Diffusion Process of
Tax and Expenditure Limits
We argue that that the diffusion of policy innovations is similar to
the spread of a virus or disease. Using a multi-stage event history
model, we explore the mechanisms of diffusion using the case of tax
and expenditure limits in the US states.
Ellen C. Moule, University of California, San Diego
emoule@ucsd.edu
Nicholas Weller, University of California, San Diego
nweller@ucsd.edu
168