One Voice Among Many: The Supreme Court's Influence on Attentiveness to Issues in the United States, 1947-92

Theory: As with other United States political institutions, the Supreme Court confers and withdraws benefits, both material and symbolic, and can under some circumstances rear-range the ecology of political influence. When these effects occur in the extreme, the result can be an expansion of conflict and a shift in system-wide attention to the underlying issues. Hypothesis: "Politically significant" Supreme Court decisions produce large and enduring shifts in system-wide attention to the underlying issues. Methods: We evaluate the effects of all "politically significant" decisions, gauged by the CQ Guide to the US Supreme Court, on systemic attention to the underlying issues. We measure systemic attention using monthly indicators of media coverage of school desegregation, freedom of speech/censorship, and church/state issues. Box-Tiao (1975) methods are used to evaluate the impact of these decisions on systemic attention. Results: We find long-term shifts in issue attention associated with four decisions, dealing respectively with school desegregation, flag-burning, religious instruction in public schools, and public school prayer. Each decision conferred and withdrew benefits, rearranged the distribution of political influence, and significantly expanded the scope of conflict for the underlying issues.