Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-2017
Abstract
Objectives
Few studies have examined the impact of the descriptive representation of Latinos on evaluations of the judiciary. This study helps to fill that gap by examining the effect of the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor on Latinos’ and Anglos’ evaluations of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Methods
Using repeated measures from surveys conducted in Texas in 2006 and 2011, we use ordered logit analysis to estimate the impact of the Sotomayor appointment on approval of the U.S. Supreme Court among Latinos and Anglos.
Results
At all levels of political knowledge, Latinos were more aware of the Sotomayor appointment than Anglos. Moreover, Latinos’ approval of the Court increased dramatically after the appointment, while Anglos’ approval was unchanged.
Conclusions
We find a political empowerment effect among Latinos, but find no evidence that Anglos considered the appointment a threat. Additionally, given that the Latinos in our sample are overwhelmingly of Mexican origin and Justice Sotomayor is Puerto Rican, we find evidence of pan-ethnic effects.
Recommended Citation
Evans, D., Franco, A., Polinard, J.L., Wenzel, J.P. and Wrinkle, R.D. (2017), Who's on the Bench? The Impact of Latino Descriptive Representation on U.S. Supreme Court Approval Among Latinos and Anglos*. Social Science Quarterly, 98: 1233-1249. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12351
Publication Title
Social Science Quarterly
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12351
Comments
Original published version available at
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/CP8XEK4PQX3BRV9NWFDX?target=10.1111/ssqu.12351