Framing the Case: Measuring the Impacts of Media Portrayals of the Supreme Court on its Popular Support

The Supreme Court relies on the media to communicate its actions to the public. Yet, these communications are frequently delivered in partisan and ideological frames. This has the potential to impact the public's evaluation of the Court and thus its legitimacy. Using a survey experiment, I explore the possible ramifications of partisan and ideological framing of Court actions. I hypothesize that individuals hold a norm of objectivity that is violated by partisan and ideological frames. I find some evidence to support the hypothesis about ideological (but not partisan) frames, however there is strong evidence to show that people process these frames very differently depending on their level of political sophistication.

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