The Judicial Power of the Purse
How Courts Fund National Defense in Times of Crisis
- Contents
- Review Quotes

List of Figures
Acknowledgments
One Federal Judges’ Budgetary Powers
Two Pulling the Purse Strings: An Information Theory of Crisis Jurisprudence
Three Mobilizing Judicial Resources: The Information Theory in Action
Four The Judicial Understanding of Costly Foreign Policy Events
Five The Next Stop: The Information Theory in the Domestic Context
Conclusion
Index
“A significant advance on conventional wisdom about judicial behavior during wartime emergencies. With admirable clarity, Nancy Staudt provides plausible evidence that the judiciary is an active partner in crisis governance—finding ways to put pools of cash at the government’s disposal when it does not use its taxing powers aggressively enough.”
“Nancy Staudt’s The Judicial Power of the Purse offers an entirely fresh perspective on the determinants of judicial decision making. By focusing on the fiscal consequences of judges’ voting behavior, she presents surprising new insights into the impact of macroeconomic factors on their choices. In testing a novel and exciting theory about judging, Staudt establishes herself as a creative and innovative social scientist and makes a major contribution to the literature on judicial behavior.”—Stefanie A. Lindquist, University of Texas School of Law
"Investigating thousands of Supreme Court and lower federal court opinions, courtroom filings, and law clerk memoranda, Nancy Staudt exposes the implicit judicial power of the purse. . . . Staudt dynamically expands the scholarly understanding of the macro-level factors that influence judicial decision making. This book challenges conventional perceptions of federal power dynamics and revives the debate over the extent to which considerations of national interests should sway judicial preferences."—Harvard Law Review
Law and Legal Studies: Law and Economics
Political Science: Judicial Politics
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