SOCIAL, CULTURAL, AND TEMPORAL DYNAMICS OF THE AIDS CASE CONGREGATION- EARLY YEARS OF THE EPIDEMIC

Studies of legal decisionmaking have focused traditionally on how soci al influences, particularly the relative social standing of competing parties, affect case outcomes. More recently, sociolegal scholars have directed their attention to the significance of cultural categories i n shaping case-based decisionmaking. We here examine how both social a nd cultural factors shape judicial decisions and their meanings for a ''congregation'' of court cases precipitated by the AIDS epidemic in t he United States. Our logistic regression analysis of the opinions of 181 AIDS-related cases decided in the early years of the epidemic (198 3-89) finds that two social factors, the relative social standing of p arties and the types of claims brought to the court, and two cultural factors, the court's use of negative AIDS metaphors and references to individual rights, are significantly related to case outcome. Finally, in line with Galanter's (1990) notion that case congregations have hi stories that involve development and change over time, our temporal an alysis reveals the emergence of two case congregations and suggests ho w each serves to bolster the legitimacy of the judiciary amidst social crisis.