Replication Data for: Strategic Anticipation of Noncompliant Governors: State Supreme Court Behavior in Response to the Political Environment

Separation-of-powers models of judicial decision making traditionally focus on the U.S. Supreme Court and the threat of policy reversal by the legislature and the executive. This article argues that strategic behavior by the courts vis-à-vis the other branches begins with a calculation of the probability of a noncompliant executive. That probability, in turn, changes according to the policy position of the executive and the public. The analysis of state-supreme-court decisions suggests that judges are constrained by their political environment and are likely to adjust their voting behavior to be closer to the governor and public opinion if both have different policy preferences from the court.