Question

precedent - changing supreme court decisions (1953 - 1985)
direction of the decision: liberal | conservative
warren court
burger court
source: supreme court database
which of the following statements best describes the information in the infographic above?
choose 1 answer:
a both the warren court and the burger court altered precedents to be overwhelmingly more conservative
b in general, the warren court changed precedents to be more liberal and the burger court altered precedents to be more conservative
c in general, the warren court changed precedents to be more conservative, and the burger court altered precedents to be more liberal
d both the warren court and the burger court altered precedents to be overwhelmingly more liberal

Explanation:

To solve this, we analyze the infographic (a bar graph showing Warren and Burger Courts' precedent - changing decisions, with blue for liberal and red for conservative). For the Warren Court, the blue (liberal) bars are much longer than the red (conservative) ones, meaning it generally made precedents more liberal. For the Burger Court, the red (conservative) bars are more prominent, meaning it generally made precedents more conservative.

• Option A is wrong because Warren Court's decisions are not overwhelmingly conservative (blue is dominant).
• Option C is wrong as it reverses the trends of the two courts.
• Option D is wrong as Burger Court's decisions are not overwhelmingly liberal (red is dominant).
• Option B matches the analysis: Warren Court (more liberal) and Burger Court (more conservative).

Answer:

B. In general, the Warren Court changed precedents to be more liberal and the Burger Court altered precedents to be more conservative