Replication data for: Constitutional Interpretation from a Strategic Perspective

In the late 1950s, the U.S. Supreme Court decided two major constitutional cases that touched on a similar topic- the rights of witnesses to refuse to answer questions put to them by congressional committees investigating subversive activities in America. In the first, Watkins v. United States, 354 U.S. 178 (1957), the Court ruled in favor of the witness. But in the second, Barenblatt v. United States, 360 U.S. 109 (1959), it ruled against him. The majority in Barenblatt went to great lengths to indicate that the opinion amounted to nothing more than a clarification of Watkins. Many legal analysts (including the four justices who dissented in Barenblatt), however, have suggested that at minimum, the majority backed away from Watkins and, at maximum, the decision signaled a reversal from the earlier ruling.