Half a Century of Supreme Court Clean Air Act Interpretation: Purposivism, Textualism, Dynamism, and Activism
44 Pages Posted: 14 Jun 2018
Date Written: May 29, 2018
Abstract
While public and scholarly concern about ideological decision making in Supreme Court cases has traditionally focused on abortion rights and other constitutional issues, the Gorsuch nomination brought forth some concern that ideology might influence statutory construction as well. This paper offers a case study in the evolution of statutory interpretation over time in the Supreme Court by examining the Court’s Clean Air Act jurisprudence, which now reaches back almost half a century. It examines the influence of both politics and evolving norms of statutory interpretation on the Supreme Court’s Clean Air Act case law.
Keywords: statutory interpretation, clean air act, dynamic statutory interpretation, textualism, purosivism, judicial ideology, attitudinal model, ideological decisionmaking, law and economics
JEL Classification: K32
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation