The introduction of court targeting legislation happens with regularity in state legislatures. Understanding the causes of court curbing is critical because of the potential threat these bills pose to judicial independence. It is equally important to understand why legislatures choose to reward their courts. This dissertation seeks to expand on existing knowledge of court curbing and rewarding in several ways. First, I examine what causes some state legislatures to introduce more court curbing bills than others. Second, I examine what causes some state legislatures to introduce bills to raise the judicial retirement age. Third, I examine why some state legislators introduce more court curbing bills than others. Finally, I investigate the causes of a particular type of court curbing legislation, anti-foreign law legislation.