The So-Called Moderate Justices on the Burger Court: the Role of Precedent and Case Salience on Judicial Decision- Making.

The paper reveals the characteristics of moderate judicial behavior and seeks to determine the conditions under which moderate decision-making occurs on the Burger Court. The data in the study was derived from the Justice-Centered Burger Court Database (1969-1986). Both the New York Times and Congressional Quarterly measures were used to determine the level of salience for each case (high or low.) The findings reveal that Justice Powell best fits the model's parameters of consistent moderate voting behavior. The results of the study contribute to the dialogue whether institutional norms and external factors have a somewhat greater affect on moderate decision-making than on the ideologically bloc justices on the Supreme Court. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]