Research Note:Twitter and the Supreme Court: An Examination of Congressional Tweets about the Supreme Court

Abstract

We provide a descriptive overview of how members of Congress employed Twitter to discuss the Supreme Court from 2011 to 2014. The data suggest that members sporadically respond to Supreme Court decisions on Twitter. When they do so, it is typically in response to highly salient cases with clear partisan dimensions. The article highlights the nature of congressional tweets about the Court, especially in responses to the Court’s decision in National Federation of Businesses v. Sebelius (2012). It provides insight into the nature and limit of modern-day inter-branch relations and the separation of powers.