Abstract

The literature of “power elite” theory is surprisingly silent on the role of the judiciary. This is particularly strange as the judiciary was designed to be the elite institution in the federal system, and there is a good deal of evidence that it has functioned as planned: “The Court's power is a natural outcome of the necessity for maintaining capitalist dominance under democratic forms; …judicial review has proved to be a very convenient channel through which the driving forces of American economic life have found expression and achieved victory.” The elite backgrounds of the judges have been much studied, and might explain a predisposition to respond to elite interests and values. However, the “input” channels remain mysterious