Greenhouse effect (United States Supreme Court)

The Greenhouse effect is a theory of U.S. Supreme Court justices' behavior postulate a tendency of conservative Supreme Court Justices to vote with the liberals more often as their careers progress due to a desire for favorable press coverage. The idea was first proposed by Hoover Institution economist Thomas Sowell and popularized by D.C. Court of Appeals Senior Judge Laurence Silberman in a speech to The Federalist Society in 1992.^[1][2] Silberman said "It seems that the primary objective of The Times's legal reporters is to put activist heat on recently appointed Supreme Court justices."^[1]

The term "Greenhouse" refers to Linda Greenhouse, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter who covered the Supreme Court for the New York Times for 40 years. The existence of the Greenhouse effect has been challenged by some commentators, who note it presumes a "vast, hegemonic liberal control over the media and academia"^[3] and question whether professional decision makers who have "come to their views despite years of elite education and exposure to elite opinion" are really so malleable.^[4]

However, the evidence below suggests that conservative justices become liberal more often than liberals become conservative. Further, the existence of a more general version of the Greenhouse effect, one not restricted to the media but rather "elites" in general or legal elites, is less controversial. Though this does not show causation, 75% of law professors who began their careers after 1986 identify as liberal, while only 10% identify as conservative.^[5] Evidence suggests more "elite" journalists identify as liberal than conservative.^[5]