Judicial Time: A Research Note

Abstract This Research Note is an effort to lay out some ways of thinking about the relation between political time and judicial time. We have decent general descriptive theories of Supreme Court behavior when a political regime is consolidated and seemingly stable, but descriptive theories about the Court’s behavior during “transitional” periods are under-developed. The Research Note’s contribution is to identify some lines along which such theories might be developed. The analysis is highly speculative, identifying possibilities and offering anecdotal examples as illustrations. Future research into the matters discussed here will undoubtedly deepen, qualify, and refute some of those speculations.