Dr. Dave Bridge and Baylor Law Dean Jeremy Counseller Discuss the Fallout of Unpopular Supreme Court Decisions
The final session of the Readers Meet the Author series will take place Tuesday, March 25, 2025, at 12:30 p.m., featuring Dr. Dave Bridge, Associate Professor of Political Science. Bridge will speak about his new book, “Pushback: The Political Fallout of Unpopular Supreme Court Decisions,” with Dean of Baylor Law and Abner V. McCall Chair of Evidence Law, Jeremy Counseller. The event will be held in the Schumacher Flex Commons of Moody Memorial Library and available online via Zoom Webinar.
“No issue is ever fully resolved in American politics—not even when the Supreme Court rules,” said Bridge. “Grassroots organizations, Congress, and especially the people can always push back.”
Bridge’s book explains how the minority political party in Congress can utilize unpopular Supreme Court decisions to create cracks in the strength of the majority party and offers readers insights on the political dissent that historically follows unpopular Supreme Court rulings.
“The Supreme Court’s rulings on abortion and student debt were, by all measures, unpopular. The Democratic Party stood to gain by using these decisions as anvils upon which they could forge a larger electoral coalition. Indeed, they needed only to borrow from the Republican Party’s playbook from the 1970s, when Roe v. Wade was a similarly unpopular decision,” Bridge said.
Bridge earned his doctorate in International Relations from the University of Southern California. He teaches a range of political science courses covering topics of American constitutional development, public policy, campaigns and elections, judicial politics, and the Supreme Court.
This event is free and open to the public. Following the conversation, there will be a reception with light refreshments and a book signing. At the event copies of, “Pushback: The Political Fallout of Unpopular Supreme Court Decisions," will be available for purchase.
The Readers Meet the Author Series is presented by the Office of the President and the Office of the Provost and hosted by the Baylor Libraries. For more information visit provost.web.baylor.edu/rma.