14.05.2024; Vortragsreihe
Kolloquium: Strategic Appointments to the Supreme Court
Conservative politicians appoint liberal judges to ensure conservative Supreme Court rulings. What sounds like a sequence of contradictions is common behavior of US senators. Through an analytical model, I elucidate the dynamics behind such appointments. The model portrays a Supreme Court where verdicts are shaped by the ideological spectrum of all of its members. It unveils how appointing politicians shape the court's trajectory to their liking, even by appointing judges with deviating ideal points. My model further reveals that moderate politicians can steer the court towards moderate rulings by nominating judges with extreme views.