The Supreme Court as a Small Group.

The application of small group interaction and decision making assessment methods has demonstrated many of the interpersonal preferences, understandings, and attitudes of the Supreme Court. Six terms of the Supreme Court, from October 1969 through October 1974 were chosen for evaluation. Only those cases in which the formal opinion of the Court was authored by one of its members were considered. Matrices were constructed to show interagreement in differing circumstances. Type and degree of dissent, coalition formation, the effect of personnel change, and value systems as measured by the Guttman scale were investigated during this time period. Although the study of decision making by the Supreme Court is inexact, the information contained here should provide insight for those who practice before the Court. (KS)