Court Curbing in the State House: Why State Legislators Attack Their Courts

Legislative proposals that attack or curb state supreme courts are often introduced in state legislatures. However, the causes of state court curbing legislation have not been systematically analyzed. This article seeks to expand on existing knowledge of court curbing by examining what causes some U.S. state legislators to introduce court curbing bills. I develop a theoretical argument that court curbing is driven by court–legislator ideological distance and legislator electoral security. I demonstrate that legislators who are ideologically distant from their state supreme court and electorally secure introduce the most court curbing legislation.