"A truly comprehensive look at the dynamics of public support for the Supreme Court and for a nominee. This is the single best study of this subject, and the most theoretically rich study to date. The findings are numerous. I expect that it will become an important book in the field of law and the courts, and that it will be widely cited."--Valerie Hoekstra, Arizona State University"In "Citizens, Courts, and Confirmations," Gibson and Caldeira present an elaborate, multifaceted interpretation of Americans' attitudes toward the Supreme Court. Numerous provocative and surprising findings are reported along the way. This is a major work, one that paves the way for future research on public opinion and the Supreme Court. It is an understatement to say that it is a much-welcomed addition to the field."--Jeffery J. Mondak, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

List of Figures and Tables ix Preface xi CHAPTER ONE: Introduction: The Public and Supreme Court Nominations 1 Changes in Attitudes toward Judicial Institutions 4 The Theory of Positivity Bias 7 Outlining the Chapters That Follow 14 CHAPTER TWO: Knowing about Courts 17 Assessing Public Information about Law and Courts 19 Empirical Evidence of Mass Ignorance 20 Discussion and Concluding Comments 34 Appendix 2.A: Survey Design, The 2001 Survey 35 CHAPTER THREE: The Popular Legitimacy of the United States Supreme Court 36 Theories of Institutional Legitimacy 38 Measuring Institutional Legitimacy 44 Accounting for Individual-Level Variability in Institutional Loyalty 49 Discussion 61 CHAPTER FOUR: Institutional Loyalty, Positivity Bias, and the Alito Nomination 63 The Confirmation of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court 66 The Positivity Theory Hypotheses 69 Assessments of the Confirmation Process 71 The Models 72 Determinants of Confirmation Preferences 85 Discussion and Concluding Comments 93 CHAPTER FIVE: A Dynamic Test of the Positivity Bias Hypothesis 96 Applying the Theory of Positivity Bias to Confirmations 97 Measuring Change in Attitudes toward the U.S. Supreme Court 98 The Model of Change in Institutional Support 103 Findings 110 Discussion and Concluding Comments 119 CHAPTER SIX: Concluding Thoughts, Theory, and Policy 121 Caveats, Puzzles, and Questions 125 APPENDIX A: Survey Design: The 2005 Survey 129 APPENDIX B: The Representativeness of the Panel Sample 131 APPENDIX C: The Supreme Court and the U.S. Presidential Election of 2000: Wounds, Self-Inflicted or Otherwise? 133 James L. Gibson, Gregory A. Caldeira, and Lester Kenyatta Spence The Theory of Institutional Legitimacy 135 Institutional Loyalty in the Aftermath of the Election 139 Views of the Court's Opinion in Bush v. Gore 144 Discussion and Concluding Comments 156 Appendix C.1: Survey Design 158 Appendix C.2: Measurement 159 References 163 Index 175