Researching the court
Karin Dienst
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The idea for the topic was spurred by the last election. "There was a lot of talk in the media about how the presidential election would determine the future of the Supreme Court, and I wondered if it was in fact possible for presidents to determine the ideological direction of the court through their appointments," said Just.
Working with his adviser, Professor Stanley Katz of the Woodrow Wilson School, Just refined his thesis to focus on the appointment of justices during the Reagan years. This administration, he argues, was highly successful at selecting justices that suited the ideology of the president.
"As I read more about the appointment process and talked with Professor Katz, it became clear that Reagan's approach to Supreme Court selection stood out among recent presidents -- both as the approach most concerned with ideological predictability and as the one that was, ultimately, most successful in determining the future direction of the court," said Just.
Just's thesis includes assessments of Supreme Court appointments that were considered "mistakes" by previous administrations. It also examines judicial records of the four Reagan appointees (Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and William Rehnquist, who was elevated to chief justice) that illustrate just how close to the predictions of the president and his aides they behaved. What remains to be seen is how well this historical evidence can help predict how President Bush might approach the nomination of potential justices.
Katz, who is an expert in constitutional law and a self-proclaimed "Supreme Court junkie," said Just's thesis was "particularly fun to work on." Katz explains that all the best Woodrow Wilson School theses "are fun to work on, since they relate directly to changing some part of the way the world actually works."
For Just, the senior thesis further strengthened his love of writing. This former editor-in-chief of The Daily Princetonian relished the opportunity to write an extensive piece. "The process that's required to write 100 pages on a single topic is -- both in terms of the ideas and in terms of the writing -- a serious challenge," he said. "But it was a challenge that I really enjoyed, and there's a real sense of accomplishment in knowing that I was able to do it."
Starting in September, Just will work at The American
Prospect, a biweekly political magazine in Washington,
D.C.
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May 7, 2001 Contents Senior thesis • Minicourses
provide 'continuing education' • Communiversity
2001 Sections
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