MEMBERSHIP CHANGE AND VOTING CHANGE - AN ANALYSIS OF THE REHNQUIST COURTS 1986-1991 TERMS

This study examines the collective voting behavior of the United State s Supreme Court in civil rights and liberties decisions for the 1986-8 7 through the 1991-92 terms to determine if the Court has become signi ficantly more conservative and, if changes have occurred, to determine the reasons for these changes. Despite the efforts of Presidents Rona ld Reagan and George Bush to pack the Court with judicial conservative s, the Rehnquist Court during this period was more liberal in its voti ng behavior than the Burger Court was in its last decade Membership ch ange, changes in the voting behavior of continuing members of the Cour t, and issue change al appear to have influenced the collective voting of the Rehnquist Court, with the result that the Court has not been a s conservative as liberals had feared and conservatives had anticipate d.