Courts, Activism and Inter-Branch Relations

Abstract

Courts affect, and are affected by, decisions of other branches of the polity. This is true at both domestic and international levels. This panel invites papers which examine how courts' actions are shaped by responses of other branches. In particular, we welcome papers which look at how courts use incremental (strategic) or moderating (tactical) logics in their rulings in the face of statements by the executive or the legislature—or in the case of regional associations, the executives or legislatures of member states. Although the analysis of "split-the-difference" jurisprudence is most commonly associated with close textual analysis of a small number of decisions, we welcome papers that look at such tactics in a broader perspective.