@article{Horiuchi2026HP0062,
  author = {Victor Y. Wu and Yusaku Horiuchi},
  title = {The Supreme Court’s Partisan Composition Affects How Americans Evaluate Nominees: Evidence from a Conjoint Experiment},
  year = {2026},
  journal = {Journal of Law and Courts},
  note = {Forthcoming},
  number = {isan},
  pages = {1-24},
  doi = {10.1017/jlc.2026.10029},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1017/jlc.2026.10029},
  abstract = {We hypothesize that the public assesses U.S. Supreme Court nominees in light of the contemporaneous Court’s partisan composition. In a preregistered conjoint experiment ( n = 9,895), we find that Democrats and Republicans weigh nominee partisanship more heavily when their party is losing the Court and less heavily when their party already enjoys a secure majority. Consistent with affective polarization and threat-based political psychology, however, they care just as much about partisanship when the Court is split as when the other party enjoys a strong majority – even though the new Justice would swing the Court only in the former scenario.}
}