Who's on the Bench? The Impact of Latino Descriptive Representation on Supreme Court Approval

20 Pages Posted: 1 Aug 2011 Last revised: 31 Aug 2011

See all articles by Diana Evans

Diana Evans

Trinity College (Hartford CT)

Ana Belen Franco

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) (Formerly University of Texas-Pan American)

Jerry Polinard

affiliation not provided to SSRN

James Wenzel

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Robert Wrinkle

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) (Formerly University of Texas-Pan American)

Date Written: 2011

Abstract

Latinos are an increasingly influential element of the American polity and are likely to continue to be significant actors in the future. However, studies investigating the impact of Latino descriptive representation on perceptions of the judiciary are scarce in the literature. Moreover, until Justice Sonia Sotomayor's appointment to the Supreme Court, Latinos were simply not represented at the highest level of the federal judiciary. The present analysis addresses the gap in the literature by examining the effect of Sotomayor's appointment on Latino and Anglo evaluations of the Supreme Court. Using repeated measures from two statewide surveys conducted in Texas, we find that Latino approval of the Court increases dramatically after the Sotomayor appointment, while Anglo support remains essentially the same.

Suggested Citation

Evans, Diana and Belen Franco, Ana and Polinard, Jerry and Wenzel, James and Wrinkle, Robert, Who's on the Bench? The Impact of Latino Descriptive Representation on Supreme Court Approval (2011). APSA 2011 Annual Meeting Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1901425

Diana Evans

Trinity College (Hartford CT) ( email )

300 Summit Street
Hartford, CT 06106
United States

Ana Belen Franco

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) (Formerly University of Texas-Pan American) ( email )

1201 W. University Drive
Edinburg, TX 78541
United States

Jerry Polinard

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

James Wenzel

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

Robert Wrinkle (Contact Author)

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) (Formerly University of Texas-Pan American) ( email )

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