Courting Science: Litigation, Expertise, and Scientific Investment in the Christian Conservative Legal Movement

ABSTRACT

In this article we analyze case studies of abortion and marriage equality to identify how judicial discretion and signaling prodded conservative investments in new movement organizations charged with overcoming scientific expertise barriers that had previously stymied conservative policy victories. In doing so, we seek to understand how US judicial commitments to adversarial legalism shape both the incidence of, and responses to, expertise barriers, and how these responses can nullify the power of scientific expertise in “culture war” court cases. We also suggest that the Right's responses to expertise barriers in these cases reflect both their access to significant resources and their tendency to build new institutions instead of working within established ones. Combined, this analysis highlights an understudied, and yet potent form of conservative response to evidence‐based civil rights logics that are central to contemporary culture war cases—particularly those reviewed by the US Supreme Court. It demonstrates the importance of institutional protocols in setting the stage for targeted organizational investments in the American Right's fight against progressive rights.