A Review of “When Courts and Congress Collide: The Struggle for Control of America's Judicial System”

Brenner, Philip. The Limits and Possibilities of Congress. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1983. Pp. ix, 206. $15.95 hardbound; $8.95 softbound.

Maass, Arthur. Congress and the Common Good. New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1983. Pp. xi, 273. $18.95.

Dilger, Robert Jay. The Sunbelt/Snowbelt Controversy: The War Over Federal Funds. New York: New York University Press, 1982. Pp. 240. $27.50.

Kelley, Stanley Jr. Interpreting Elections. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1983. Pp. xv, 267. $27.50 hardbound; $8.95 softbound.

D. Roderick Kiewiet. Macroeconomics and Micropolitics. University of Chicago Press, 1983. Pp. 176 + vii. $15.00.

Perry, Michael. The Constitution, the Courts, and Human Rights: An Inquiry into the Legitimacy of Constitutional Policymaking by the Judiciary. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982. Pp. 288. $24.00.

Polsby, Nelson W. Consequences of Party Reform. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983. Pp. 267. $24.95 hardbound; $8.95 softbound.

Davis, James W. National Conventions in an Age of Party Reform. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1983. Pp. 304. $35.00.

Smallwood, Frank. The Other Candidates: Third Parties in Presidential Elections. Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 1983. Pp. xiii, 317. $20.00 hardbound, $9.95 softbound.     

A Review of “Fighting for the Speakership: The House and the Rise of Party Government”

We explore the sensitivity of Congress to statements of administration policy (SAPs) and signing statements in the struggle with the executive over policy. We hypothesize that the nature and use of objections contained in these presidential communications generates additional congressional oversight. To test whether this happens, we developed a dataset with all SAPs, signing statements, and congressional oversight hearings from 1997 through 2007. The results indicate that the type and number of objections raised in presidential communications affects congressional oversight activity.