When It Comes to Business, the Right and Left Sides of the Court Agree

Abstract

This Article analyzes the voting trends among both liberal- and conservative-leaning Supreme Court justices in the Roberts Court in cases where corporations are a party on one side, either as petitioner or respondent. Epstein, Landes, and Posner show that business interests have had a strong presence in front of the Roberts Court, and in most cases, the Court has voted in favor of businesses. The Article notes that current liberal-leaning Justices are still less pro-business than their conservative colleagues, but Clinton/Obama-appointed liberals on the Roberts Court are still more pro-business than their Democratic predecessors appointed by previous presidents. The authors conclude the trends leading up to and supported by the Roberts Court characterize the bench as “pro-business.”

Keywords

Supreme Court, Ideology, Business Interests, Roberts Court, Pro-business, Voting

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Authors

Lee Epstein (Ethan A.H. Shepley Distinguished University Professor at Washington University in St. Louis)
William M. Landes (Clifton R. Musser Professor Emeritus of Law and Economics at the University of Chicago Law School)
Richard A. Posner (Served on the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Senior Lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School)

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