Description |
We rely on theories positing general resentment of the rich to argue that people who believe there are greater number of Justices who are millionaires will have more negative attitudes towards the Court than those who believe there are fewer millionaires on the Court. Analyzing the results to a nationally representative survey, we find that individuals who believe a larger number of the Justices are millionaires are more likely to believe the Court gives special rights to the wealth and overall are less likely to view the Court as legitimate. We supplement these results with a survey experiment which demonstrations that individuals believe the Court will become less fair if a millionaire nominee is confirmed to be a Justice and that individuals are less likely to support a millionaire nominee compared to nominees with a lower net worth. Our results have implications for perceptions of bias within the judiciary, the selection of judicial nominees, and how attitudes about the wealthy can influence attitudes towards institutions.
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