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Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0009-0004-9609-3172
Date Available
5-6-2027
Year of Publication
2026
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
College
Arts and Sciences
Department/School/Program
Political Science
Faculty
Michael Zilis
Faculty
Justin Wedeking
Abstract
My dissertation shares a connected theme of behavior related to the United States Supreme Court. I attempt to discover why individuals act the way that they do in regard to the Court. My research spans different directions and subjects. My first chapter presents this topic through the behavior of the justices themselves, through an examination of utilizing behavior norms as signals to other actors, specifically focusing on breaking the norm of respectful dissent. I find that the likelihood of breaking this norm is increased when precedent is overturned, ideological distance is greater, and certain types of law are affected. These results highlight the signaling mechanism present by breaking this norm.
My second chapter deals with the question of what the more important heuristic is when considering court-curbing, elite cues or decision outcome. I collect this data using a 666-respondent survey focusing on a hypothetical Supreme Court case. I find that there is variation by partisan identification as to which of these heuristics is more prevalent. My third chapter focuses on mass behavior and how the legitimacy of elections is altered by elite cues and decision outcomes. I measure this through a survey experiment focusing on the 2024 presidential election. I find that partisan differences exist both in favorability of court curbing at a base level and also in responsiveness to the treatment. Professed Kamala Harris voters favored curbing the court at a higher level when the Court made a decision that led to an outcome the voters did not support and when the Republican elites presented the decision as legitimate.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2026.203
Archival?
Archival
Funding Information
S. Sidney and Margaret L. Ulmer Scholarship (2025)
The Political Science Endowed Doctoral Research and Travel Award (2025)
The Ken Griffin Graduate Research Fund (2025)
The Kenneth and Mary Sue Coleman, Chris and Vicki Gorman, and Penny Miller Graduate Student Summer Fund (2023,2024,2025)
Department of Political Science Block Funding (2024)
Recommended Citation
Farone, Alexander Thomas, "Distant Early Warnings: Signaling, Cues, and Legitimacy of the United States Supreme Court" (2026). Theses and Dissertations--Political Science. 58.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/polysci_etds/58
