Scholars@Duke
Jack Knight

Jack Knight

Frederic Cleaveland Distinguished Professor of Law and Political Science
Political Science
knight@law.duke.edu
Duke Law School Room 3010, Duke Box 90362, Durham, NC 27708-0204
Duke Law School 210 Science Dr, Box 90362, Durham, NC 27708

Selected Publications

How Personal Motivations Affect Judges’ Decisions

Chapter · January 1, 2023 Neither legal academics nor social scientists analyse judging solely through the ‘law versus politics’ dichotomy. They have instead expanded their theoretical toolkit to include four other approaches to judging, in addition to standard legalistic (law) and ... Full text Cite

How Social Identity and Social Diversity Affect Judging

Journal Article Leiden Journal of International Law · 2022 Link to item Cite

Helping courts address diversity, equity, and inclusion

Journal Article Judicature · January 1, 2022 Cite

Pragmatism in IR: The Prospects for Substantive Theorizing

Journal Article International Studies Review · 2021 Link to item Cite

Book Review: Pragmatist Egalitarianism

Journal Article Political Theory · 2019 Cite

Talking Judges

Journal Article Duke Law Journal Online · 2018 Link to item Cite

Wealth

Book · 2017 Link to item Cite

How Bayesian are Judges?

Journal Article UNLV Law Review · 2016 Link to item Cite

Roundtable on Epistemic Democracy and Its Critics

Journal Article Critical Review · 2016 Cite

Foreword

Chapter · 2016 Cite

The Imperative of Non-Ideal Theory

Journal Article Political Studies Review · 2014 Cite

Legitimacy

Chapter · 2014 Cite

Reconsidering Judicial Preferences

Journal Article Annual Review of Political Science · 2013 Cite

The Priority of Democracy: Political consequences of pragmatism

Book · August 22, 2011 Pragmatism and its consequences are central issues in American politics today, yet scholars rarely examine in detail the relationship between pragmatism and politics. In The Priority of Democracy, Jack Knight and James Johnson systematically explore the su ... Cite

Talking Judges

Journal Article The Legal Workshop - Duke Law Journal · 2010 Link to item Cite

Courts, Judges, and Politics

Book · April 19, 2005 The sixth edition has been thoroughly updated while retaining the features that made it attractive for so long: its effective structure, thorough coverage, narrative voice, choice of excerpts, and teaching flexibility. ... Cite

Evaluacion de los Limites de la Democracia Radical

Journal Article Gestion y Politicia Publica · 2005 Cite

Assessing the boundaries of radical democracy

Journal Article Gestion y Politica Publica · January 1, 2005 In this article we analyze the radical democracy concept and evaluate its limits. In particular we shift attention from the purported "transformative" impact of institutions on individuals to the particular ways in which institutions as we know them coordi ... Cite

Courts and Judges

Chapter · 2004 Cite

Walter F. Murphy: The interactive nature of judicial decision making

Chapter · December 1, 2003 Since his days in the Marine Corps, Walter F. Murphy has conceptualized the world in strategic terms. Just as no military commander can expect to win a battle without taking into account the position and likely actions of his opponents, no jurist can expec ... Cite

The Norm of Prior Judicial Experience and Its Consequences for Career Diversity on the U.S. Supreme Court

Journal Article California Law Review · 2003 For at least three decades now, those charged with nominating and confirming Justices to the U.S. Supreme Court seem to be following a norm of prior judicial experience-one that makes previous service on the (federal) bench a near prerequisite for office. ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Political (Science) Context of Judging

Journal Article St. Louis University Law Journal · 2003 Link to item Cite

Constitutional Borrowing and Nonborrowing

Journal Article I-CON, International Journal of Constitutional Law · 2003 Link to item Cite

Walter Murphy

Chapter · 2002 Cite

A Pragmatist Approach to the Proper Scope of Government

Journal Article Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE) / Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft · 2001 What is the proper scope of government? In this paper, I argue that efforts to define a clear and distinct boundary for the scope of government are misplaced. This argument takes two forms. First, and primarily, I set out a positive argument for a pragmati ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Role of Constitutional Courts in the Establishment and Maintenance of Democratic Systems of Government

Journal Article Law & Society Review · 2001 What role do courts play in the establishment and maintenance of constitutional democracies? To address this question, we elaborate a model that draws on existing substantive literature and on theories that assume strategic behavior on the part of judges, ... Full text Link to item Cite

Comparing Judicial Selection Systems

Journal Article William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal · 2001 Link to item Cite

Toward a Strategic Revolution in Judicial Politics: A Look Back, A Look Ahead

Journal Article Political Research Quarterly · 2000 As papers presented at recent disciplinary conferences and articles published in major political science journals reveal, the field of judicial politics is undergoing a sea change. Variants of the social-psychological paradigm, which have long dominated th ... Full text Link to item Cite

Distribution Fights, Coordination Games, and Lobster Management

Journal Article Comparative Studies in Society and History · 2000 Full text Link to item Cite

Inquiry Into Democracy

Journal Article American Journal of Political Science · 1999 Cite

The Bases of Cooperation : Social Norms and the Rule of Law

Journal Article Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE) / Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft · 1998 Full text Link to item Cite

Explaining Social Institutions

Book · 1998 Important scholars offer new perspectives on the formation and growth of social institutions ... Cite

Justice and Fairness

Journal Article Annual Review of Political Science · 1998 Cite

Book Review

Journal Article Law & Politics Book Review · 1998 Cite

Social institutions and human cognition: Thinking about old questions in new ways

Journal Article Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics · December 1, 1997 Cite

Social Institutions and Human Cognition: Thinking About Old Questions in New Ways

Journal Article Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE) / Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft · 1997 Full text Link to item Cite

The Choices Justices Make

Book · January 1, 1997 Data culled from the Court's public records and from the private papers of Justices Brennan, Douglas, Marshall, and Powell provide empirical evidence to support the central argument, while numerous examples from the justices' papers animate ... ... Cite

Changing Social Norms

Journal Article Current Anthropology · 1997 Cite

Book Reviews

Journal Article American Political Science Review · 1997 Cite

The New Institutionalism, Part II

Other Law & Courts Newsletter · 1997 Cite

Explaining economic change: The Interplay Between Cognition and Institutions

Journal Article Legal Theory · January 1, 1997 Economic theory is built on assumptions about human behavior—assumptions embodied in rational-choice theory. Underlying these assumptions are implicit notions about how we think and learn. These implicit notions are fundamentally important to social explan ... Full text Cite

The Norm of Stare Decisis

Journal Article American Journal of Political Science · 1996 Precedent might affect Supreme Court decision making in a number of ways. One conception, the conventional view scrutinized by Segal and Spaeth, sees precedent as the primary reason why justices make the decisions that they do. A second regards precedent a ... Full text Link to item Cite

On the Struggle for Judicial Supremacy

Journal Article Law & Society Review · 1996 Given that democratization is an ongoing, dynamic process, what explains the emergence and maintenance of some types of political institutions and the decline of others? The answer, we argue, lies not in the intentional design of long-run constitutional pr ... Full text Link to item Cite

Political Consequences of Pragmatism

Journal Article Political Theory · 1996 Full text Link to item Cite

Public Goods

Chapter · 1993 Cite

Book Review: Collective Action by Todd Sandler

Book Review American Political Science Review · 1993 Cite

Institutions and Social Conflict

Book · October 30, 1992 The book draws its examples from an extensive variety of social institutions. ... Cite

Positive Models and Normative Theory: A Comment on Eskridge and Ferejohn

Journal Article Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization · 1992 Full text Link to item Cite

Book Review: Free Markets and Social Justice by Cass Sunstein

Book Review Law & Politics Book Review · 1992 Cite