2007 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Disc. Gisela Sin, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Jacob R. Straus, Frostburg State University
39-23 THE EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONS AND RULES ON
STATE AND LOCAL POLITICS
Room Montrose 2, 7 th Floor, Sun at 8:00 am
Chair James S. Battista, University of North Texas
Paper The Effect of Local Initiatives on Government Spending
David M. Primo, University of Rochester
Overview: I explore formally and empirically whether cities and
other local governments permitting initiatives generate
systematically different spending patterns compared with those
areas where residents are not permitted to vote on policy matters
directly.
Paper Amateurs, Professionals, and Policymaking in State
Legislatures: What Shapes the Supply of Legislative
Demands?
Thad B. Kousser, University of California, San Diego
Gerald Gamm, University of Rochester
Overview: We examine the relationship between careerism and
policymaking: Do those with shorter or part-time careers focus
more on providing targeted benefits for their districts, or does a
weaker electoral connection free them to pursue the common
good?
Paper Toward an Ambition Theory of Legislative Organization
Gregory Robinson, Michigan State University
Overview: This paper presents a theory that views Mayhew's
electoral connection as a special case of ambition theory, arguing
that the relative importance of different types of political ambition
is conditional on electoral context.
Paper The Impact of Immigrants on Apportionment of State
Legislatures
Francisco I. Pedraza, University of Washington
Overview: This paper explores the consequences of the
apportionment formula and definitions of apportionment
population on seat allocation of state legislatures.
Paper Krehbiel’s Pivotal Politics Model Tested in the North Carolina
State Senate
Carolyn A. Hanaway-Benjamin, North Carolina State
University
Overview: Krehbiel claims that the presidential veto is responsible
for the larger than minimum-majority winning coalitions. This
study uses data from the North Carolina State Senate to examine
the importance of the veto and coalition size.
Disc. David M. Primo, University of Rochester
James S. Battista, University of North Texas
41-14 COURTS AND PUBLIC OPINION I: MEDIA
COVERAGE AND ISSUE ATTITUDES
Room Burnham 1, 7 th Floor, Sun at 8:00 am
Chair Rorie L. Solberg, Oregon State University
Paper Understanding the Relationship Between Issue Salience and
Public Opinion Change
Danette Brickman, City University of New York
Belinda Bragg, Rowan University
Overview: In an experimental design we examine the ability of the
Supreme Court to bring about attitude change on salient and nonsalient
issues. We find that attitude change is less likely on issues
that tap core beliefs and are personally important.
Paper All the News That’s Fit to Print? Case Salience and The New
York Times
Jennifer A. Cooper, Emory University
Overview: Epstein and Segal’s popular measure of issue salience
in U.S. Supreme Court cases focuses on front-page coverage of
the cases in The New York Times. I identify and evaluate a
potential source of bias in this measure.
Paper Tilting at Windmills
Maxwell H. Mak, Stony Brook University
Andrew O'Geen, Stony Brook University
Overview: This paper seeks to accurately test the influence of
public opinion on Supreme Court decision-making by utilizing a
new measure that accounts for the dimension of public sentiment
most likely to affect judicial preferences.
Paper The Effect of Understanding Webster and Stanford on Public
Opinion
Michael Unger, University of Texas, Austin
Overview: This paper investigates the effect of understanding
Webster v. Reproductive Services and Stanford v. Kentucky on
abortion and death penalty attitudes. I also compare the effect of
receiving the Court’s message to that of other political elites.
Paper Full Court Press: An Examination of Media Coverage of State
Supreme Courts
Alixandra B. Yanus, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Overview: This paper examines how a variety of characteristics
affect news coverage of state supreme courts. I find that case facts
are important determinants of news coverage, but their effects
vary over institutional structures and political environments.
Disc. Joseph D. Ura, Louisiana State University
Stephanie A. Maruska, Ohio State University
42-10 CONSTITUTIONAL MOMENTS,
UNENUMERATED RIGHTS AND THE SHAPE OF
JUDICIAL POWER
Room Clark 5, 7 th Floor, Sun at 8:00 am
Chair Francis J. Carleton, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay
Paper Explaining Both Sides of the Rehquist Court's Federalism
Agenda
Bradley W. Joondeph, Santa Clara University
Overview: Using a regime politics approach, this paper seeks to
explain the apparently inconsistent commitments to state
autonomy latent in the voting records of the five justices who were
responsible for the Rehnquist Court’s “federalism revolution.”
Paper Consensus-Building Judicial Review and the Counter-
Majoritarian Difficulty
David A. Lewis, Frostburg State University
Overview: I develop criteria to determine when the protection of
unenumerated constitutional rights may be characterized as
consensus-building. I argue that most of the Court's "substantive
due process" decisions are reconcilable with democratic norms.
Paper Judicial 'Piggy-Backing': A Political Regimes Approach to
Judicial Power
Curtis W. Nichols, University of Texas, Austin
Overview: A political regimes approach is used to explore and
model the conditions which favor the growth of judicial power in
the United States. Court affiliation and regime resiliency are
found to contribute most significantly to judicial 'piggy-backing.'
Paper Shaking Off the Shackles of Lochner: The New Extra-
Constitutionalism
Gwen Torges, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Overview: Lawrence v. Texas signifies a new era in which the
Court has at last overcome the fear of Lochner-era criticisms, and
has embraced an extra-constitutional philosophy (a Millsian “noharm”
approach) to guide and shape its exercise of judicial review.
Paper Alexander Bickel's Misinterpretation of James Bradley
Thayer's Standard
Jeffrey H. Anderson, United States Air Force Academy
Overview: In an early Harvard Law Review, James Bradley
Thayer attempted to elucidate the appropriate standard for
exercising judicial review. His fine standard merits rediscovery
but must first be disintangled from its misinterpretation by
Alexander Bickel.
Disc. Dennis J. Goldford, Drake University
45-10 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT POLICY
Room Burnham 4, 7 th Floor, Sun at 8:00 am
Chair Moon-Gi Jeong, University of Texas, San Antonio
Paper Economic Development and Ethics: The Role of the Justice
Principles of Urban Officials
Paul D. Schumaker, University of Kansas
Marisa S. Kelly, St. Thomas University
Overview: This paper explores the ethical principles that elected
officials in 12 cities bring to bear on economic development
issues, the extent to which various principles are reflected in their
positions on economic development proposals.
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