ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book explores the role and functions of courts in the United States and discusses the judiciary and the notion of judicial politics in the broader universe of American government. In the United States, courts and judges are clearly influenced by the actions of other political actors, and, in turn, the judiciary influences the decisions of those actors. Judges in all common law countries generally have more power than their counterparts in civil law countries because in the common law tradition law is judge-made, but American courts are more powerful than almost any other common law judiciary. The study of judicial politics remains a mostly American endeavor among academics, though comparative judicial politics is a growing field. The book demonstrates that scholars of judicial politics are much more concerned about the intersection of law and politics.
