Supreme Court Attitudes Toward Federal Administrative Agencies

T HIS PAPER REPORTS AN ATTEMPT to examine by quantitative methods the validity of certain hypotheses about the behavior of the Supreme Court, and of its individual members, in federal administrative-agency cases during the 1947-1956 terms. The presentation is divided into four parts: (1) a brief attempt to clarify the basic similarities and differences between those who engage in the quantitative analysis of appellate-court behavior and those who do not; (2) the conceptual framework with which I approach the study of the Supreme Court and some of the hypotheses which stem from that framework; (3) the methods employed in collecting and analyzing the data necessary for testing the hypotheses formulated; and (4) the evidence developed for the acceptance or rejection of each of these hypotheses.