Amanda Frost at SCOTUSBlog:

Common sense tells us that increased political polarization affects the U.S. Supreme Court as well as the political branches, and now legal scholars have the data to prove it. In a forthcoming paper, “Polarization and the Judiciary,” Richard Hasen surveys the academic literature on the subject, and then draws some conclusions of his own. As Hasen explains, the research shows that polarization influences the appointment and confirmation process, along with the cases the court accepts and how it decides them, as well as the public’s perception of the court and its decisions. Although polarization has many negative consequences for the courts, it also empowers them: When the political branches are gridlocked, the courts, and ultimately the Supreme Court, have the last word on contentious policy questions such as immigration, limits on executive power and access to abortion.