Yehonatan Givati (Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Faculty of Law) & aharon garber have posted Juristocracy in the Court of Public Opinion (American Law and Economics Review, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
The trend toward juristocracy has fundamentally altered the role of courts within governmental systems. While the existing literature has explored the descriptive and normative dimensions of juristocracy, there is a notable gap in empirical research on its effects. How does juristocracy affect confidence in courts? We focus on Israel's constitutional revolution, which significantly increased the judiciary's power relative to the other branches of government. To assess the effect of this unanticipated transfer of power from representative institutions to the judiciary, we use unique individual-level historical data on confidence in courts and in other institutions, in 1991-2018, across 39 countries. We find that, following Israel's constitutional revolution, confidence in courts declined by two standard deviations. We use the data to rule out alternative explanations, such as world trends in confidence in courts, a general decline in confidence in institutions, demographic shifts, populism, and the effect of social media. Finally, we demonstrate that following Israel's constitutional revolution, a political divide in confidence in courts emerged, consistent with the judicialization of politics.
Highly recommended.
