I hypothesize that judicial institutionalization in the states is determined by exogenous events and actors that spur state legislatures to make formal institutional changes to the courts.
And, I hypothesize that judicial decisions of more institutionalized supreme courts will be cited more often by their counterparts.
The results show that the judicial institutionalization process is a complicated one,
much like in the other governmental branches,
influenced mostly by state resources, while citation rates are a direct consequence of institutionalization.