Turning Rights Into Symbols: The U.S. Supreme Court And Criminal Justice

Abstract

The U.S. Supreme Court has often been analyzed in light of its symbolic importance. While most such analyses focus solely on the high court's insti tutional image, this article examines the justices' techniques for manipulating the symbolic qualities of their decisions affecting criminal justice rights. By creating a gap between the formal pronouncements about rights contained in well-known precedents and the actual implementation of those rights, the Supreme Court maintains its image as the institutional guardian of constitu tional rights while simultaneously advancing the crime control policy prefer ences favored by the dominant conservative justices.