Courts defending property rights repeatedly stalled US welfare-state expansion.

Evidence

Skocpol (1992) discusses how the role of the Courts in US history influenced and shaped the evolution of its welfare state through a series of “blocks” of welfare policies in defense of property. — Philippe Aghion, Alberto Alesina, and Francesco Trebbi, Endogenous Political Institutions, 55

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Close kin to ‘On Sacrifice: The Real Kind, with Corpses’ — both concern how stratified societies stabilize themselves through institutions; here the mechanism is constitutional blocking rather than ritual violence.