The Court accepts nationally important political disputes but avoids unresolvable ones

Evidence

First, the Court accepts cases that involve political disputes of national import. Thus, during the Korean War, it ruled on the constitutionality of President Truman’s seizure and operation of the nation’s steel mills; and during the Watergate scandal of the early 1970s, it reviewed a challenge to President Nixon’s claim that he could withhold incriminating tape recordings from a special prosecutor. More recently, the Court resolved a dispute over election returns in Florida that in effect determined the outcome of the 2000 presidential election, and it has heard several cases involving rights claims by suspected terrorists. Nevertheless, the Court tends to avoid becoming embroiled in political disputes that it feels it cannot resolve. For example, it refused to hear several challenges to the constitutionality of the Vietnam War. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 913

Categorization

• XREF: The political questions doctrine and Court avoidance parallel the ‘political thicket’ discussion from the chapter on judicial review standards. — connects to: Controversial court rulings reframe public debate without settling the underlying dispute. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 3363; Courts sometimes defer gun disputes to politics rather than constitutional law — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1367; The Supreme Court takes cases of national political import. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1513 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• The Supreme Court takes cases of national political import. #corroborates (0.88) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1513
• Some disputes resist rational adjudication because they lack general criteria #expands (0.85) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 3305
• The Court chooses cases to set national legal principles rather than correct lower-court errors. #expands (0.82) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 299
• Courts sometimes defer gun disputes to politics rather than constitutional law #expands (0.80) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1367
• Controversial court rulings reframe public debate without settling the underlying dispute. #expands (0.78) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 3363
• Judicial rulings can set legal obligations without settling disputed public policy #qualifies (0.76) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 207
• Courts cannot decline to make law because every merits judgment necessarily resolves the dispute #complicates (0.75) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 1705