The Hollow Hope: Can Courts Bring About Social Change? Second Edition (American Politics and Political Economy Series)

Condition II: Courts may effectively produce significant social reform when other actors impose costs to induce compliance.

"Rights and liberties, powers and opportunities, income and wealth."

Winning court cases is, of course, the first step toward courts producing significant social reform. In order to maximize chances of winning, the rights constraint must be overcome.

Another way in which courts may indirectly produce significant social reform is by facilitating negotiations.

Condition 1: Courts may effectively produce significant social reform when other actors offer positive incentives to induce compliance.

the Constrained Court view maintains that courts will generally not be effective producers of significant social reform for three reasons: the limited nature of constitutional rights, the lack of judicial independence, and the judiciary's inability to develop appropriate policies and its lack of powers of implementation.

courts have powerful indirect effects. Their politically neutral position allows them to teach Americans about the meaning of their constitutional obligations. Court decisions can change opinions, generate media coverage, and inspire action. They can provide the necessary nudge to start the reform process. In other words, they have a unique and imp

systematically relied on courts to delay change.

There is room, then, for courts to effectively correct the pathologies of the political process.