US Supreme Court Opinions and their Audiences

Ryan C. Black is Associate Professor of Political Science at Michigan State University. Ryan J. Owens is Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Justin Wedeking is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Kentucky. Patrick C. Wohlfarth is Assistant Professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, College Park.

• 1. Introduction; 2. A theory: using opinion clarity to enhance compliance and manage public support; 3. Estimating the clarity of Supreme Court opinions; 4. Supreme Court opinions and Federal Circuit Courts; 5. Supreme Court opinions and Federal Agency implementors; 6. Supreme Court opinions and the States; 7. Supreme Court opinions and the secondary population; 8. Establishing compliance as a function of clarity; 9. Conclusion.

'The authors present a careful, creative, and wide-ranging inquiry into the causes and effects of clarity in Supreme Court opinions. Their striking findings about the conditions that lead to greater clarity have important implications for our understanding of how justices think about the writing of opinions.' Larry Baum, Ohio State University