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State Supreme Courts: Tilting the Balance Toward Change

NCJ Number
112993
Journal
Governing the States and Localities Dated: (August 1988) Pages: 30-38
Author(s)
E Witt
Date Published
1988
Length
9 pages
Annotation
In the revitalization of State Governments, State courts have become lead players and shapers of public policy.
Abstract
As a direct result of State supreme court rulings, Michigan is reviving its aging downtowns, West Virginia is rethinking its educational financing system, New Jersey is working to increase the supply of low-income housing, and communities in California and Virginia are exerting more control over how they grow. Creative solutions to problems often provoke legal challenges and become constitutional issues in the courts. The outcomes of such cases shape the quality of community life and define economic, aesthetic, and social opportunities for citizens and the State Government. The greater detail in State constitutions regarding the operation of State Government has resulted in popular participation in policymaking via lawsuits. In making policy decisions, courts enjoy tremendous doctrinal flexibility, often invoking public purpose and regional general welfare requirements of Government operations. The involvement of judges in the policy process is a natural consequence of the fact that more than half of them are elected. As elected representatives, they feel less hesitant to offer their policy views. Nonetheless, State supreme courts rarely have the last word on State law. The public can always reclaim the perogative by ousting judges at the polls, as happened in California; passing new laws; or amending the State constitution to correct judicial missteps.

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