TY - JOUR
T1 - The pendulum of precedent
T2 - U.S. state legislative response to supreme court decisions on minimum wage legislation for women
AU - Hoekstra, Valerie
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - The impact of U.S. Supreme Court decisions is contingent on the willingness of other political actors to implement those decisions. One important group of implementers is the U.S. state legislatures. However, in the pursuit of policy, state legislators must consider multiple goals when choosing among alternative policy options. In addition to considering the likelihood of review by state high courts and the U.S. Supreme Court, state legislators have their own ideas about good policy and must also face reelection. When are legislators likely to follow precedent and when are they likely to ignore it in pursuit of these other goals? In this article, I examine the enactment of state minimum wage legislation for women in the first half of the twentieth century. The results show that even after controlling for legislative and constituent preferences, legislators heed the preferences of the U.S. Supreme Court - but not necessarily their own high courts - when deciding to pass minimum wage legislation. The results point to the need for scholars of state politics to pay greater attention to the role of judicial actors when studying policy adoption and legislative behavior.
AB - The impact of U.S. Supreme Court decisions is contingent on the willingness of other political actors to implement those decisions. One important group of implementers is the U.S. state legislatures. However, in the pursuit of policy, state legislators must consider multiple goals when choosing among alternative policy options. In addition to considering the likelihood of review by state high courts and the U.S. Supreme Court, state legislators have their own ideas about good policy and must also face reelection. When are legislators likely to follow precedent and when are they likely to ignore it in pursuit of these other goals? In this article, I examine the enactment of state minimum wage legislation for women in the first half of the twentieth century. The results show that even after controlling for legislative and constituent preferences, legislators heed the preferences of the U.S. Supreme Court - but not necessarily their own high courts - when deciding to pass minimum wage legislation. The results point to the need for scholars of state politics to pay greater attention to the role of judicial actors when studying policy adoption and legislative behavior.
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U2 - 10.1177/153244000900900301
DO - 10.1177/153244000900900301
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:67651005866
SN - 1532-4400
VL - 9
SP - 257
EP - 283
JO - State Politics and Policy Quarterly
JF - State Politics and Policy Quarterly
IS - 3
ER -