Table 12. Descriptive Statistics of U.S. Supreme Court Votes on First Amendment Cases
         
    All Votes Before Brandenburg Votes After Brandenburg Votes
         
ATTITUDE OF JUSTICE   0.39 0.53 0.02
  (standard deviation) (0.49) (0.34) (0.74)
BRANDENBURG        
  before 61%    
  after 39%    
POLITICAL SPEECH        
  Non-political 11% 0% 27%
  Political 89% 100% 73%
DOCTRINE        
  Likely and Imminent Risk of Lawless Action 12% 13% 11%
  (Abstract advocacy) 15% 22% 5%
  Not an Issue 73% 65% 84%
SETTING        
  Public forum 37% 27% 52%
  Semi-public forum 25% 23% 26%
  (Non-public forum) 4% 4% 6%
  Not an Issue 34% 46% 16%
GOVERNMENT        
  Federal 42% 49% 32%
  State 17% 17% 16%
  (Local) 35% 27% 47%
  School or University 2% 4% 0%
  No Government 4% 4% 5%
SPEAKER        
  Communist 32% 49% 6%
  Protestor 16% 13% 21%
  Racial Minority 33% 35% 31%
  Other 19% 4% 43%
         
Note: Statistics for attitudes of justices are means, with standard deviations in parentheses. Percentages are given for categorical variables. Base (omitted) categories are noted by parentheses.

Last Updated on 4/12/1998
By Bert Kritzer