aloof and inaccessible, scholars must struggle to piece to-
gether and interpret the bits of available information that
shed light on the human processes of Supreme Court deci-
sion making.

This book represents an effort to assemble in a scholarly
fashion the available information about the human decision
makers on the Rehnquist-era Supreme Court. Because any
person with powers of persuasion can be highly influential
within a small deliberative body of nine people, it is import-
ant to seek understanding about how the interactions of the
individuals on the Supreme Court shape law and public
policy for the entire nation. Although the dearth of specific
information about the internal processes and interactions at
the Supreme Court makes it difficult for scholars to pro-
nounce definitive conclusions about the high court's deci-
sion-making processes, scholars have traditionally used
published opinions as well as anecdotal information to de-
velop analytical inferences about the justices' behavior. Inev-
itably, such analyses invite criticism for failing to fit the
traditional systematic criteria of social science research.
When dealing with subjects who are relatively inaccessible
and purposefully obscured behind a symbolic facade, the
advancement of knowledge requires investigators to seize
every tool available in order to present analytical arguments
and evidence to the scholarly community. Thus, although
this book begins with an admission about the speculative
aspects of its arguments and evidence, readers should recog-
nize the necessity of interpreting all available evidence,
firmly substantiated or otherwise, in the interest of advanc-
ing the collective understanding of the Rehnquist Court's
role in the American political system and the influence of
individual justices within the Supreme Court.

I am very grateful to three law journals for their generous
permission to incorporate within this book portions of sev-
eral of my previously published articles concerning the Su-
preme Court. Material from the following articles is incorporated
by permission: "Justice Antonin Scalia and the Institutions ofAmerican Government,"

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