About Me

Robert J. Hume is a Professor of Political Science at Fordham University, with degrees from the College of the Holy Cross (B.A.) and the University of Virginia (M.A., Ph.D.). He is the author of three books on law and policy: How Courts Impact Federal Administrative Behavior (Routledge 2009, winner of the 2010 Alpha Sigma Nu Book Award in Professional Studies), Courthouse Democracy and Minority Rights: Same-Sex Marriage in the States (Oxford University Press 2013), and Ethics and Accountability on the U.S. Supreme Court: An Analysis of Recusal Practices (SUNY Press 2017). He has published in American Politics Research, the Law & Society Review, the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, Justice System Journal, and Publius. His textbook, Judicial Behavior and Policymaking: An Introduction (Rowman & Littlefield 2018), is now available.

Thursday, May 01, 2014

Law & Politics Book Review on Courthouse Democracy and Minority Rights

In the Law & Politics Book Review, Philip A. Dynia of Loyola University New Orleans writes:


 "The state same-sex marriage cases offer lessons about the capacities of state courts to bring about dramatic policy changes (lessons that Hume derives from solid research and skillful analysis of existing and his own original data). In addition, Hume offers a plausible argument that state courts were the catalysts that made same-sex marriage possible....


"In retirement, Justice John Paul Stevens has been an active commentator and book reviewer. But the late Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. also comes to mind. Brennan (who was elevated to the Supreme Court from New Jersey’s high court), facing a Supreme Court growing increasingly conservative in the 1970s, famously advised liberal interest groups to turn to litigation in state courts (Brennan 1977). One wonders how Brennan would respond to Hume’s many insights into the promise ‒ and perils ‒ of such a course." 


You can read the full review here.

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