The effectiveness of courts
In this article, the question of courts in the United States producing substantial social reform is explored. As described by the author, the constrained court is considered to be opponents of making social reform. The author provides an in-depth view and analysis of the constraint court and then goes further ahead to create a set of conditions and constraints under which courts in American can produce vital social reform. Firstly, the bounded nature of constitutional rights obscures courts from effectively hearing and acting on several crucial social reform claims and lessens popular mobilization chances. The second constraint is the lack of necessary independence on the judiciary from other government branches to produce significant reform. The author also argues that the lack of tools to readily design and develop appropriate policies on the part of courts and implement decisions that order social reforms is a constraint.
The effectiveness of courts from the logic of dynamism is explored. The dynamic view of the courts may help in advancing the cause for significant social reform. According to the author, the dynamic court view holds that courts can be influential producers of social reform since they are the most accessible and are primarily used in creating a chance in public policy sought by social protest movements. Therefore, the dynamic view goes against the constraint view, with the author explaining that the latter may oversimplify reality. Lastly, four conditions laid out by the author could aid courts in producing social reform. Firstly, courts may effectively make significant social reform when other players (actors) offer positive incentives that spur compliance. The second condition is based on other actors to impose costs to induce compliance. The author also argues that courts can produce social reform when judicial decisions can be implemented by the market and, lastly, by providing cover and leverage for individuals crucial to such implementation who are willing to act.