The chapters in the first section provide an overview of policy making by American courts including the Supreme Court, U.S. circuit courts, Federal district courts, and the State courts. The two chapters in the second section analyze judicial selection and recruitment in the Federal and State court systems and offer a model to evaluate the potential independence of State judicial systems. The third section explores the roles of judges, rules and procedures, and other issues that impact on the full range of choice affecting judicial decision making. The fourth section focuses on the relationship between courts and environmental factors in the broad sense including public opinion, interest groups, legislative and executive governmental agencies, political institutions, and the pressures of caseloads. The two chapters in the following section examine two issues related to judicial innovations: what are the circumstances leading to judicial innovation and what factors influence the spread and adoption of these innovations. The concluding chapter discusses social science theory and methods as well as the new political science perspective known as the new institutionalism. Chapter references