Honors Projects
Shakespeare and The Supreme Court: How the Justices Reveal Their Ideologies by Referencing His Works
Abstract
The works of William Shakespeare have been referenced many times throughout history, even by Supreme Court justices. Building off of an observation of a mock trial by James Shapiro, this project puts the utilization of Shakespeare from three Court opinions in relation to its context within the play and the opinion to examine what the reference reveals about the authoring justices' ideology. In doing so, this project concludes that the justices utilize Shakespeare's works in their opinions for various reasons, including to infuse their beliefs into their argument. This implies that Supreme Court justices do not base their opinions on only legal precedent, but their preferences for the outcome as well. This project also offers another way to make inferences about the justices' ideology and offers implications for further research.
Department
English
Major
English
First Advisor
Dr. Stephannie Gearhart
First Advisor Department
English
Second Advisor
Dr. Joshua Boston
Second Advisor Department
Political Science
Publication Date
Fall 12-7-2022
Repository Citation
Anderson, Rachel, "Shakespeare and The Supreme Court: How the Justices Reveal Their Ideologies by Referencing His Works" (2022). Honors Projects. 842.
https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/honorsprojects/842
Included in
Constitutional Law Commons, Jurisprudence Commons, Literature in English, British Isles Commons, Supreme Court of the United States Commons