ABSTRACT
This book examines the impact and influence of judges and judging on the development of law and policy in the United States. We examine the causes and effects of rulings, cases and judicial opinions on the development of public and social policy for the federal government and, to a more limited extent, in the U.S. states. Our purpose is to examine and analyze what courts can and cannot do in terms of policy development, policy change and policy implementation. We see policy as a plan or course of action by the government intended to influence and determine decisions, actions and other matters. By the term “public policy” we mean who gets what, when and how. So far as the term “social policy” is concerned, it is a matter of who is allowed to do what, when and how. To paraphrase a bit from political scientist David Easton’s famous axiom, public and social policy is the allocation of society’s values and resources.
