Independent judiciaries prevent democratic reversals, facilitate peaceful transitions of power, and legitimate democracy among citizens. We believe this judicial independence is important for citizen-level judicial confidence and faith in democratic institutions. I challenge this and argue that citizens living under terror threats lose confidence in their independent judiciaries. Terror threats lead citizens to enable the state leader to provide counterterrorism for their security, which has important implications for interbranch relations between the executive and the judiciary. Citizens lose confidence in independent judiciaries that provide due process for suspected terrorists. I test my argument with mixed effects models that incorporate the Global Terrorism Database and four waves of European Values Survey. The analyses demonstrate the negative effects of terror threats on judicial confidence when interacting terror threats with measures of judicial independence. My findings have important implications for the study of democratic confidence and the liberty-security dilemma.
BryanAmanda C.KromphardtChristopher D.2016. “Public Opinion, Public Support, and Counter-Attitudinal Voting on the US Supreme Court.”Justice Systems Journal37 (4): 298–17.
4.
Bueno de MesquitaEthan. 2007. “Politics and the Suboptimal Provision of Counterterror.”International Organization61 (1): 9–36.
5.
BühlmannMarcKunzRuth. 2011. “Confidence in the Judiciary: Comparing the Independence and Legitimacy of Judicial Systems.”West European Politics34 (2): 317–45.
6.
ChesneyRobert M.2009. “National Security Fact Deference.”Virginia Law Review95 (6): 1361–1435.
7.
CingranelliDavid L.RichardsDavid L.ClayK. Chad. 2014. “The CIRI Human Rights Dataset.” Version 2014.04.14. http://www.humanrightsdata.com.
8.
CraigPaulTomkinsAdam, eds. 2006. The Executive and Public Law: Power and Accountability in Comparative Perspective. New York: Oxford University Press.
9.
DakoliasMariaSaidJavier. 1999. “Judicial Reform: A Process of Change through Pilot Courts.”Legal and Judicial Reform Unit, Legal Department, World Bank, Washington, DC.
10.
DjankovSimeonPortaRafael LaLópez-de-SilanesFlorencioShleiferAndrei. 2003. “Courts.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics118 (2): 453–517.
11.
DraguTiberiu. 2011. “Is There a Trade-Off between Security and Liberty? Executive Bias, Privacy Protections, and Terrorism Prevention.”American Political Science Review105 (1): 64–78.
12.
DraguTiberiuBoardOliver. 2015. “On Judicial Review in a Separation of Powers System.”Political Science Research and Methods3 (3): 473–92.
13.
DraguTiberiuPolbornMattias. 2014. “The Rule of Law in the Fight against Terrorism.”American Journal of Political Science58 (2): 511–25.
EndersWalterSandlerTodd. 2012. The Political Economy of Terrorism. 2nd ed.New York: Cambridge University Press.
16.
EpifanioMariaelisa. 2011. “Legislative Response to International Terrorism.”Journal of Peace Research48 (3): 399–411.
17.
FeldLars P.VoigtStefan. 2003. “Economic Growth and Judicial Independence: Cross-Country Evidence Using a New Set of Indicators.”European Journal of Political Economy19 (3): 497–27.
18.
FissOwen M. 1993–1994. “The Limits of Judicial Independence.”University of Miami Inter-American Law Review25 (1): 57–76.
GelmanAndrew. 2008. “Scaling Regression Inputs by Dividing by Two Standard Deviations.”Statistics in Medicine27 (15): 2865–73.
25.
GiblerDouglas M.RandazzoKirk A.2011. “Testing the Effects of Independent Judiciaries on the Likelihood of Democratic Backsliding.”American Journal of Political Science55 (3): 696–709.
26.
GleditschKristian Skrede. 2002. “Expanded Trade and GDP Data.”Journal of Conflict Resolution46 (5): 712–24.
27.
HenkinLouis. 1997. Foreign Affairs and the United States Constitution. 2nd ed.New York: Clarendon Press.
28.
HetheringtonMarc J.SuhayElizabeth. 2011. “Authoritarianism, Threat, and Americans’ Support for the War on Terror.”American Journal of Political Science55 (3): 546–60.
29.
HowardRobert M.CaseyHenry F.2003. “Is an Independent Judiciary Necessary for Democracy?”Judicature87:284–91.
30.
HuddyLeonieFeldmanStanleyTaberCharlesLahavGallya. 2005. “Threat, Anxiety, and Support of Antiterrorism Policies.”American Journal of Political Science49 (3): 593–608.
31.
InglehartRonaldWelzelChristian. 2005. Modernization, Cultural Change, and Democracy: The Human Development Sequence. New York: Cambridge University Press.
32.
Institute for Economics and Peace.2014. “Global Terrorism Index, 2014: Measuring and Understanding the Impact of Terrorism.”http://www.visionofhumanity.org.
LandauMark J.SolomonSheldonGreenbergJeffCohenFlorettePyszczynskiTomArndtJamieMillerClaude H.OgilvieDaniel M.CookAlison. 2004. “Deliver Us from Evil: The Effects of Mortality Salience and Reminders of 9/11 on Support for President George W. Bush.”Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin30:1136–50.
35.
LandesWilliam M.PosnerRichard A.1975. “The Independent Judiciary in an Interest-Group Perspective.”Journal of Law & Economics18 (3): 875–901.
36.
LandisJames. 1938. The Administrative Presidency. New Haven: Yale University Press.
37.
La PortaRafaelLópez-de-SilanesFlorencioPop-ElechesCristianShleiferAndrei. 2004. “Judicial Checks and Balances.”Journal of Political Economy112 (2): 445–70.
38.
LarkinsChristopher M.1996. “Judicial Independence and Democratization: A Theoretical and Conceptual Analysis.”American Journal of Comparative Law44 (4): 605–26.
39.
LeeJong R.1977. “Rally around the Flag: Foreign Policy Events and Presidential Popularity.”Presidential Studies Quarterly7:252–56.
40.
LinzJuan J.StepanAlfred. 1996. “Toward Consolidated Democracies.”Journal of Democracy7 (1): 14–33.
41.
LynchAndrewMacDonaldEdwinaWilliamsGeorge, eds. 2007. Law and Liberty in the Waron Terror. Leichhardt, Australia: The Federation Press.
42.
MautnerMenachem. 2011. Law and the Culture of Israel. New York: Oxford University Press.
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). 2014. “Global Terrorism Database.” [Data file]. http://www.start.umd.edu/gtd.
45.
NorrisPippa. 2011. Democratic Deficit: Critical Citizens Revisited. New York: Cambridge University Press.
46.
NorthDouglassWeingastBarry. 1989. “Constitutions and Commitment: The Evolution of Institutions Governing Public Choice in 17th Century England.”Journal of Economic History49 (4): 803–32.
PemsteinDanielMeserveStephen A.MeltonJames. 2010. “Democratic Compromise: A Latent Variable Analysis of Ten Measures of Regime Type.”Political Analysis18 (4): 426–49.
PosnerEric A.VermeuleAdrian. 2007. Terror in the Balance: Security, Liberty, and the Courts. New York: Oxford University Press.
53.
PosnerRichard A.2006. Not a Suicide Pact: The Constitution in a Time of a National Emergency. New York: Oxford University Press.
54.
PyszczynskiThomas A.SolomonSheldonGreenbergJeff. 2003. In the Wake of 9-11: The Psychology of Terror. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
55.
RoachKent. 2011. The 9/11 Effect: Comparative Counter-Terrorism. New York: Cambridge University Press.
56.
RussellPeter H.O’BrienDavid M.2001. Judicial Independence in the Age of Democracy: Critical Perspectives from around the World. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.
57.
SchillerReuel E.2007. “The Era of Deference: Courts, Expertise, and the Emergence of New Deal Administrative Law.”Michigan Law Review106 (3): 399–441.
58.
ShapiroMartin M.1981. Courts: A Comparative and Political Analysis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
59.
Stone SweetAlec. 2000. Governing with Judges: Politics in Europe. New York: Oxford University Press.
Van de WalleSteven. 2009. “Confidence in the Criminal Justice System: Does Experience Count?”British Journal of Criminology49 (3): 384–98.
63.
WheelerDarren A.2008. Presidential Power in Action: Implementing Supreme Court Detainee Decisions. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
64.
World Bank Group. 2016. Doing Business 2016: Measuring Regulatory Quality and Efficiency. Washington, DC: The World Bank.
65.
YooJohn. 2006. War by Other Means: An Insider’s Account of the War on Terror. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
