American courts have grown in their role governing the nation.

Evidence

First, courts in the United States have always played an important role in governing, and that role has increased in recent decades. Various factors have been suggested to explain this judicial involvement in governing, including the common-law system imported from England and modified in response to American conditions and beliefs, the institution of judicial review, and the legalistic and litigious orientation of the American populace. Whatever its causes, the phenomenon of judicial participation in governing makes understanding the processes and consequences of judicial policy making essential for understanding U.S. government. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 90

Categorization

• DEFINE: Identifies common-law inheritance, judicial review, and litigiousness as the explanatory factors for judicial governance.
• XREF: connects to: American courts always helped govern and their governing role has grown over time — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 9; American courts are enmeshed in policymaking through their duty to interpret law — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 213; Courts do not simply dominate American policymaking. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 191 (+11 more)

Broader Connections

• American courts always helped govern and their governing role has grown over time #corroborates (0.95) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 9
• Courts do not simply dominate American policymaking. #complicates (0.82) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 191
• A trend of judicialization extends court-like procedures throughout government and society. #expands (0.80) — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 389
• Formalizing law expands the judiciary into an omnipresent public service #expands (0.79) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 945
• American courts are enmeshed in policymaking through their duty to interpret law #expands (0.78) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 213
• Nineteenth-century judges actively reshaped common law to fit American conditions. #exemplifies (0.78) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2837
• The Supreme Court takes cases of national political import. #exemplifies (0.76) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1513
• American judges reshaped inherited common law to fit democracy and industrialization #exemplifies (0.76) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 139
• American courts inherited common-law rulemaking and thus judges make law #expands (0.75) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 138
• Courts expand constitutional rights by redefining the legal standard they rest on. #exemplifies (0.74) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2533
• State courts make constitutional and common-law policy in distinct doctrinal domains #exemplifies (0.72) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 3267
• Even conservative courts make decisions that expand individual rights dramatically #exemplifies (0.72) — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 4400