Legal mobilization and the politics of reform: Lessons from school financelitigation in Kentucky, 1984-1995

This article is about legal mobilization by claimant groups seeking left-li beral reform in the United States. Drawing on a growing body of work in pol itical science and legal studies, it takes an interpretive, legal-mobilizat ion approach to one litigation-based reform effort: school finance litigati on and education reform in Kentucky. In turn, this case study provides leve rage for theorizing about legal mobilization and the role of law and courts in social reform. The article argues that current theoretical approaches e ither overlook or neglect the implications of important dimensions of legal mobilization by would-be reformers. Specifically, it highlights and explic ates the meaning of two related themes: (1) legal translation, taken up her e as legal framing and legal construction, and (2) the degree of coherence or fit between the legal and political components of reform projects that i nclude both legal mobilization and extrajudicial strategies and tactics. Th is article suggests that the "degree of coherence" may have an important bu t underappreciated relationship to the overall success or failure of such r eform projects.