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Senior Essay in History: Citing Your Sources

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Chicago Manual of Style

Documenting the sources you use in your senior essay is a key part of the research and writing process. Complete and accurate citations to the books, journal articles, primary sources, and other items you use will allow readers to verify your sources and explore them further if they'd like to learn more about the issues you've raised.

In the field of history, the standard citation style is the Chicago Style, and you will want to consult it to find the proper format for citing sources in your footnotes as well as at the end of your paper in your bibliography. Here are the main links for referring to the Chicago Manual of Style:

• Chicago Manual of Style Online (17th ed.)
• Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide

Also there is Kate L. Turabian's encapsulation of the Chicago Style :   A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers .

In addition, the Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) offers a helpful overview of the Chicago Manual of Style.

Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS)

The key chapter to consult in the CMOS is Chapter 14, Notes and Bibliography, where you will find guidance on citing sources both in your footnotes and in your bibliography. Many examples of citations are provided throughout the chapter, but keep in mind that sometimes you may be citing a source that doesn't exactly fit within the chapter's models. In these cases, the main thing is to maintain a clear and consistent style, and to reach out to a librarian or your faculty advisor if you have any questions.

The guidance you'll find in Ch. 14 will offer direction on such general matters as:

• Notes and bibliography--an overview (14.19)
• Shortened Citations (starting at 14.29)
• Electronic resource identifiers (14.6)
• Short forms for URLs  (14.10)
• Library and other bibliographic databases (14.11)
• Access dates (14.12)
• Basic citation format for newspaper articles (14.191)
• * Click here to go to our guidelines for citing archival materials based on the Chicago Manual of Style

Citation Management Tools

You may already have a software program or a system for keeping track of your sources, but, if not, you will want to think about what way of organizing your research will work best for you this coming year. The Yale University Library has licenses to certain citation management tools, and there are also free tools on the web for managing your citations. Probably the two most useful tools to consider are:

• This is a resource licensed by the Yale Library; you will need to use your Yale e-mail address to create an account.
• This is an excellent tool that's used by many historians. The same organization that created it also makes available a research photo management tool - Tropy .

For more information and an overview of several of the resources that are available, see our citation management guide .

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• Last Updated: Jun 12, 2023 4:20 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.yale.edu/senioressay/history

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Yale College Programs of Study 2024–2025

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• Summary of Requirements

Director of undergraduate studies:   Daniel Magaziner , 190 York St., 432-2724; history.yale.edu

The History major is for students who understand that shaping the future requires knowing the past. History courses explore many centuries of human experimentation and ingenuity, from the global to the individual scale. History majors learn to be effective storytellers and analysts, and to craft arguments that speak to broad audiences. They make extensive use of Yale’s vast library resources to create pioneering original research projects. Students of history learn to think about politics and government, sexuality, the economy, cultural and intellectual life, war and society, and other themes in broadly humanistic—rather than narrowly technocratic—ways.

History is one of Yale College’s most popular and intellectually diverse majors, encompassing nearly every region and time period of the global past. The study of history is excellent preparation for careers in many fields, including law, journalism, business and finance, education, politics and public policy, social activism, and the arts.

Course Numbering

Courses numbered HIST 001–099 are first-year seminars, with enrollment limited to eighteen. Remaining course numbers are organized by region, not by rigor or difficulty. Courses numbered in the 100s explore the history of the United States or Canada; those in the 200s, Europe, Russia, and Britain; and those in the 300s, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Courses numbered in the 400s address global topics. Most of these courses are lecture courses, although some are seminars. Courses whose numbers end with the letter “J” are departmental seminars, which are research focused; all departmental seminars are available for preregistration by History majors and are capped at fifteen students.

Prerequisite

The prerequisite for the major is two term courses in History. Courses completed in fulfillment of the prerequisite may be applied toward the requirements of the major.

Requirements of the Major

Ten term courses in History are required, including prerequisites, and in addition to the senior essay. 

Upon declaration, all History majors select either the global or the specialist concentration. The global concentration is designed for students seeking a broad understanding of major trends in the history of human societies throughout the world. The specialist concentration is for students seeking to focus in a particular geographic region, such as the United States, or in a thematic pathway, such as empires and colonialism. Majors may change concentrations until the end of the course selection period in the second term of the junior year.

The global concentration  requires one course in five of the six different geographic regions (see below). Students must also take two preindustrial courses, covering material before the year 1800, and two departmental seminars, identified by a “J” suffix to the course number (such as HIST 156J ).

The specialist concentration  requires at least five (and up to eight) courses in a particular geographic region or in a thematic pathway (see list below). Courses appropriate for each region and pathway are listed on the  department website. Students must also take at least two courses outside their area of specialization, and their overall coursework must include at least three geographic regions. Like students in the global concentration, students in the specialist concentration must take two preindustrial courses, covering material before the year 1800, and at least two departmental seminars, identified by a "J" suffix to the course number (e.g. HIST 156J ). Students in the specialist concentration may design an area of specialization with the approval of a faculty adviser and the director of undergraduate studies (DUS).

Regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, and United States

Pathways: cultural history; empires and colonialism; environmental history; ideas and intellectuals; international and diplomatic history (formerly international history); politics, law, and government (formerly politics and law); race, gender, and sexuality; religion in context; science, technology, and medicine; social change and social movements; war and society; the world economy

Students in either concentration may count the same courses toward geographical, preindustrial, and seminar requirements. For instance, a departmental seminar on premodern Japan simultaneously fulfills the preindustrial, seminar, and Asia geographical requirements.

Departmental seminars All students who declare the History major are entitled to preregister for two departmental seminars (designated by a course number ending in J, such as HIST 156J ). Many seminars are popular and fill up quickly. Students may use their preregistration privileges at any time after declaring the major, in their sophomore, junior, or senior years. Sophomores contemplating study abroad are urged to consider taking at least one seminar in the sophomore year. Residential College Seminars, study abroad courses, and courses in other departments that count toward the History major do not fulfill the departmental seminar requirement. Please note that the department offers seminars that are not J seminars and do not satisfy the departmental seminar requirements, although they can satisfy other requirements (preindustrial, region, pathway, etc.) Such non-J seminars are either a) cross-listed with other departments, or b) do not require the primary source research that departmental "J" seminars require. Students cannot preregister for non-J seminars during departmental preregistration.

Distinction in the major Students who receive an A or A– on the two-term senior essay and who receive the requisite grades in their remaining coursework are awarded Distinction in the Major. (See The Undergraduate Curriculum, Honors .) Students who do not complete the two-term senior essay are not eligible for Distinction.

Credit/D/Fail  Departmental seminars cannot be taken Credit/D/Fail.

Senior Requirement

Students in the History major are not passive consumers of historical knowledge: they create original works of history themselves. As seniors, History majors complete a work of original research in close consultation with a faculty adviser. The range of acceptable topics and methodological approaches is wide. The aim is to take on study of a significant historical subject through research in accessible primary source materials.

Most students choose to write a two-term independent senior essay, for two course credits toward the major. The two-term essay is required to earn Distinction in the Major. A smaller number of students choose to write an independent one-term senior essay, for one course credit toward the major.

The one-term senior essay History majors may choose to write a one-term independent senior essay during the fall term under the guidance of a faculty adviser. However, students who choose the one-term option are not eligible for Distinction in the Major or history prizes. The one-term essay is a substantial research paper (roughly half the length of the two-term senior essay) based on primary sources, along with a bibliographic essay. Seniors receive course credit for their departmental essays by enrolling in  HIST 497  during the fall of senior year. In rare circumstances, with permission of the adviser and senior essay director, a student enrolled in  HIST 497  during the fall term may withdraw from the course in accordance with Yale College regulations on course withdrawal and enroll in  HIST 497  during the spring term. Additional details about the senior essay are provided in the Senior Essay Handbook , available on the History website.

The two-term senior essay History majors seeking to earn Distinction in the Major must complete a two-term independent senior essay under the guidance of a faculty adviser. The typical senior essay is 40–50 pages (no more than 12,500 words), plus a bibliography and bibliographical essay. Seniors receive course credit for their departmental essays by enrolling in HIST 495 (first term of senior year) and HIST 496 (second term of senior year). The grade for the final essay, determined by an outside reader in consultation with the faculty adviser, is applied retroactively to both terms. Additional details about the senior essay are provided in the Senior Essay Handbook , available on the History website. History majors graduating in December may begin their two-term senior essay in the spring term and complete the senior essay during fall term.

Additional option for the senior essay Some students embark on the two-term essay but discover that their choice is not a good fit.  Students who enroll in  HIST 495 during the first term may opt out in consultation with their faculty adviser and the senior essay director. This decision must be made in accordance with Yale College regulations on course withdrawal . Instead, the student will enroll in HIST 497 in the spring term to write a one-term senior essay. Students who opt out will not be eligible for Distinction in the Major or History prizes. Additional details about the senior essay are provided in the Senior Essay Handbook , available on the History website.

All students who declare the History major are assigned an adviser from among the departmental faculty. The adviser is available throughout the year for consultation about courses and the major. Students in the global concentration are assigned an adviser from the general History faculty. Students in the specialist concentration are assigned an adviser in their area of specialization. At the beginning of each term, students majoring in History must have their schedule signed and approved by their departmental adviser or by the DUS. Students may request a specific adviser in consultation with the DUS, though the department cannot always accommodate such requests. In addition, a small group of advanced undergraduate students serve as peer advisors and are available to assist students in navigating the major.

Course substitution History majors are permitted to include up to two courses taught outside the department toward fulfillment of the major, with the approval of the DUS. Nondepartmental courses may fulfill geographic, region/pathway, and preindustrial distribution requirements. They may not fulfill departmental seminar or senior requirements.

Combined B.A./M.A. degree program Exceptionally able and well-prepared students may complete a course of study leading to the simultaneous award of the B.A. and M.A. degrees after eight terms of enrollment. See Academic Regulations, section L, Special Academic Arrangements , “Simultaneous Award of the Bachelor's and Master's Degrees.” Interested students should consult the DUS prior to the sixth term of enrollment for specific requirements in History.

SUMMARY OF MAJOR REQUIREMENTS

Prerequisites 2 term courses in History

Number of courses 10 term courses (incl prereqs, not incl senior essay)

Distribution of courses Both concentrations— 2 courses in preindustrial hist as specified; 2 departmental sems; Global concentration— 1 course in each of 6 geographical regions (Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, U.S.); Specialist concentration— at least   5 courses in specific region or pathway; at least 2 courses outside region or pathway; overall course work must include 3 regions

Substitution permitted 1 or 2 nondepartmental courses approved by DUS

Senior requirement Two-term senior essay ( HIST 495 and 496 ) or one-term senior essay ( HIST 497 )

Prerequisites 

• 2 history courses

Requirements

10 courses (10 credits), including prerequisites, but not senior requirement  

• Majors select one of two concentrations: Global or Specialist
• Both concentrations require 2 departmental seminars and 2 preindustrial history courses as part of the 10-course requirement

Global concentration

• 1 course in 5 of 6 geographical regions (see Overview) 
• 2 senior essay courses ( HIST 495  and 496 ) or 1 senior essay course ( HIST 497 )

Specialist concentration

  (overall coursework must include 3 regions)

• 5 courses in a geographic region or thematic pathway
• 2 courses outside of the chosen geographic region or thematic pathway

History explains why the world is the way it is.   Yale’s history department offers a range of courses that help students to explore the past, make sense of the present, and shape the future.   Students of history investigate why societies have changed and developed over time and how human beings both make the world and are made by it.   The study of history develops not only an understanding of the significant ideas and experiences of the past, but also such skills as organizing research projects, writing expository prose, and presenting effective oral arguments.

History courses cover a wide range of topics; there is no single introductory course.   The department offers several first-year  seminars each  year, and most History lecture courses are open to all students, including first-year students.   History departmental seminars require the instructor’s permission for enrollment and are open chiefly to history majors.

The History major is one of the largest, most diverse, and most popular majors at Yale.   Before they enter the major, students must take two term courses in history, preferably in the first two years.   Most students begin with a First-Year Seminar, Directed Studies, or introductory lecture courses in areas that interest them.   These courses count toward the major requirements.   Upon declaring their major, students select either the global concentration, which emphasizes a broad understanding of world history, or the specialist concentration in which students specialize in a region (such as U.S.   History) or a thematic pathway (such as politics, law, and government) within their History coursework.   A list of pathways and regions, along with the courses relevant to them is available on the department website .

After graduation, History majors enter many fields, including law, medicine, public policy, business, journalism, and the arts.   Some go on to graduate study in history.

Questions about history courses may be addressed to the director of undergraduate studies (DUS). Students who want to accelerate, combine history with another major, or study abroad should consult the DUS in the fall.

FACULTY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

Professors Abbas Amanat, Sunil Amrith, Lauren Benton, Ned Blackhawk, David Blight, Edyta Bojanowska, Daniel Botsman, Paul Bushkovitch, Deborah Coen, Carolyn Dean, Fabian Drixler, Marcela Echeverri, Carlos Eire, David Engerman, Paul Freedman, Joanne Freeman, John Gaddis, Beverly Gage, Bruce Gordon, Greg Grandin, Valerie Hansen, Robert Harms, Matthew Jacobson, Gilbert Joseph, Paul Kennedy, Benedict Kiernan, Jennifer Klein, Regina Kunzel, Naomi Lamoreaux, Bentley Layton, Noel Lenski, Kathryn Lofton, Mary Lui, Daniel Magaziner, Joseph Manning, Ivan Marcus, John Merriman, Joanne Meyerowitz, Alan Mikhail, Samuel Moyn, Nicholas Parrillo, Peter Perdue, Mark Peterson, Stephen Pitti, Naomi Rogers, Paul Sabin, Stuart Schwartz, Timothy Snyder, David Sorkin, Harry Stout, John Warner, Arne Westad, John Witt, Keith Wrightson, Taisu Zhang

Associate Professors Paola Bertucci, Rohit De, Marcela Echeverri, Anne Eller, Crystal Feimster, Elizabeth Hinton, Andrew Johnston, Isaac Nakhimovsky, Joanna Radin, William Rankin, Edward Rugemer, Marci Shore, Eliyahu Stern, Jonathan Wyrtzen

Assistant Professors Jennifer Allen, Sergei Antonov, Denise Ho, Jessica Lamont, Ben Machava, Nana Quarshie, Carolyn Roberts

Senior Lecturers Jay Gitlin, William Klein, Stuart Semmel, Rebecca Tannenbaum

Lecturers Sakena Abedin, Ria Chae, Ivano Dal Prete, Suzanne Gay, Maria Jordan, Tyler Kynn, George Levesque, Chitra Ramalingam, Terence Renaud, Miriam Rich

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The senior essay.

The Senior Essay Handbook

Requirements and Guidelines for the Senior Essay

In the English Department, as in other departments, the Senior Essay consists of an extended research and writing project (critical, not creative) undertaken with the guidance of a faculty advisor. The Senior Essay is not a requirement for completing the English major, nor is it required for receiving distinction in the major. It does, however, offer a satisfying way to fulfill one semester of the senior requirement. Writing an essay provides an opportunity for those who are eager to pursue a special interest, who like to write long papers, and who work well independently. Be warned that it entails inexorable deadlines and exacting effort; it can be thrilling to write a senior essay, but only if you are committed to the project. Procrastination has repeatedly proved a grave mistake. Given an essay of this magnitude, you cannot leave reading, writing, and ruminating until the last minute. If you have any doubts, take a Senior Seminar.

In addition to the prospectus and final draft, you will be asked to hand in, at the end of four weeks, five to ten pages of writing or, if appropriate, an annotated bibliography so that you, your advisor, and the department will know how your work is proceeding relatively early in the term.  By the end of the seventh week, an extended piece of writing should be submitted.  And by the end of the tenth week, a rough draft is due (to ensure the essay will be carefully thought through and receives feedback from your advisor before you revise).

You will be expected to consult frequently with your advisor throughout the semester, both about your research and about the substance of your developing argument; we recommend at least four meetings, with bi-weekly meetings as the norm. Typically, finished senior essays range from 30-40 pages. Some drafts are considerably longer (40-50 pages) and require cutting as well as revising; other drafts are shorter (25-30 pages) and require expansion as well as revision of the argument.

Specific requirements are as follows:

1. In the term before you intend to write your essay (see I mportant Dates ), you must hand in to the DUS office a completed proposal form for ENGL 490 or 491 and a prospectus, which includes the following information:

(a) a description of your topic (approximately 2 pages)

(b) a bibliography of the reading and research, both primary and secondary, you intend to undertake (If part of your project will consist in looking for sources, you must still indicate subjects that you will pursue in your research.)

(c) a list of the introductory and advanced courses you have taken that have prepared you to do independent work on your topic

(d) a schedule of meetings with your advisor

(e) your advisor’s signature

If you intend to pursue a two-semester essay (not commonly done, but a possibility for substantial research projects), please conceptualize your project in two parts so that you can submit an essay for evaluation at the end of the fall semester.

Within two weeks after you submit your prospectus, you will receive an email from the senior essay committee, via the Registrar in the DUS’s office, granting approval or asking for clarification. Approval is not automatic, and the Senior Essay committee may stipulate revisions to the project as a condition of approval.

2. By the end of Week 4 of classes, you must hand in five to ten pages of writing, along with an annotated list of at least two secondary sources relevant to your essay;  or , if the project requires a substantial amount of research, an annotated bibliography of the works you have consulted together with an outline of the reading you have still to do. You may decide, in consultation with your advisor, which of these options is the more appropriate for you. This work should be turned in to your advisor.

3. By the end of Week 7 of classes, you must hand in ten to twelve pages of writing (possibly inclusive of your earlier five pages) and, as part of that writing or separately, a brief discussion of your project’s engagement with one or more secondary sources.  This work should be turned in to your advisor.

4. By the end of Week 10, you must hand in a full or almost full draft to your advisor: consult your advisor for details.

Failure to submit the draft on time or the preliminary work described above may affect the final grade received for the essay.

5. The final essay is due by noon on the last day of classes in the fall term and on the Friday before the last day of classes in the spring term (see  I mportant Dates ); it should include a bibliography of works consulted. Submit the essay to the DUS office electronically (pdf preferred) by emailing it to the departmental registrar.

Your essay will be read, graded, and commented upon both by your advisor and by a second reader chosen by the Senior Essay Committee. The two readers’ reports, will be available from the DUS office two to three weeks after you hand in the final draft. The department will keep a copy on file so that students in the future can see what kinds of projects have been undertaken.

Program on Ethics, Politics and Economics

The senior essay.

The EPE Senior Essay

A senior essay is required for the major and should constitute an intellectual culmination of the student’s work in Ethics, Politics, and Economics. The essay should fall within the student’s area of concentration and may be written within a relevant seminar, with the consent of the instructor and approval of the director of undergraduate studies, provided that the EPE essay constitutes most of the grade for the seminar. The senior essay must be written by the EPE deadline, which may in some cases be earlier than the course deadline, and the overall grade for the course will constitute the grade for the EPE essay. If no appropriate seminar is offered in which the essay might be written, the student may instead enroll in EP&E 491 with approval of the director of undergraduate studies and a faculty member who will supervise the essay. Students who wish to undertake a more substantial yearlong essay may enroll in EP&E 492, 493. In either case the grade will be calculated on the basis of evaluations by the primary and secondary readers, in the proportion of two thirds to one third.

The senior essay reflects more extensive research than an ordinary Yale College seminar paper and employs a method of research appropriate to its topic, which should address a topic in each of the three dimensions – normative, institutional, and economic. Some papers might be written entirely from library sources; others may employ field interviews and direct observation; still others may require statistical or econometric analysis. The student should consult frequently with the seminar instructor or adviser, offering partial and preliminary drafts for criticism. One semester essays should be about 40-50 pages in length, while year-long essays should be about 80-100 pages long. 

Whether students are writing in a thesis or in a seminar or 491-493, regular attendance at the EPE senior essay workshop and contact with the advisor is mandatory.

Click here for a list of past EPE senior essay titles.

The Advisor and Second Reader

The senior essay grade will be calculated on the basis of evaluations by the primary and secondary readers, in the proportion of two thirds to one third.  All students and their faculty advisors devise a schedule for regular meetings to discuss progress on the essay and consider drafts throughout the writing process. All students will also choose a Second Reader, regardless if the essay is written independently or in a seminar.

Students should consult frequently with the seminar instructor or adviser, offering preliminary but carefully written and organized drafts for criticism.  The body of a one-semester essay should be about 40-50 pages in length.  The body of a year-long essay should be about 80-100 pages in length.

Joint Senior Essay

If an EPE student decides to write a joint senior essay, he or she must satisfy each major’s distinct senior essay requirements in one senior essay.  Also, please know that no additional overlap in course credits is permitted.  Additionally, you must meet with the EPE DUS for approval if you want to write a joint senior essay.

The Senior Essay Consultant

An advanced graduate student from one of EP&E’s affiliate departments will serve as a senior essay consultant, available to essay writers for consultation on the formulation of research questions, integrating normative and positive analysis, working with data and evidence, and drafting and revising essays.

The Senior Essay Writing Workshop

The Department of EP&E offers senior essay writers the opportunity to participate in a workshop organized by the Senior Essay Consultant and the Director of Undergraduate Studies. Participants will share proposals, literature reviews, and drafts of their essays amongst themselves, receiving feedback on ideas and methods from their peers. Students writing the essay in a seminar are require to attend at least one of these workshops; students writing the essay as an independent study are required to attend all three. All meetings will be held in the first-floor conference room in the EP&E building at 31 Hillhouse Avenue.

All seniors must submit a Senior Essay Form and Requirements Progress Report (both available on the EP&E forms page) signed by their senior essay advisor, indicating their writing plans (dates TBD).  If you are writing your essay in in the fall semester the due date is December 4, 2023; if writing a spring semester or yearlong essay the due date is April 15, 2024.  Students and their advisors are encouraged to develop their own deadlines and mechanisms for marking progress, but the Department maintains deadlines, which correspond to meetings of the Senior Essay Writing Workshop, for both participants and non-participants.

Submission and Grading

On the day the senior essay is due, students should submit an electronic copy of their essay to the EPE registrar and cc the Senior Essay Consultant and their two readers by noon of the due date. Any recognized standard writing format is acceptable. You must list the names of both readers on the title page.  Grades are determined by averaging the grades of the advisor (2/3) and the second reader (1/3).

The EP&E Program awards two departmental senior essay prizes -

• The George Hume Prize is awarded to the senior essay that best investigates both the normative and empirical components of public issues.
• The William H. Orrick Jr. Prize is awarded to the essay that best integrates EP&E’s constituent disciplines while illuminating a concrete problem.

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By David W. Chen and Michael Wines

When a split Arizona Supreme Court upheld a Civil War-era abortion ban this week, it rejected the argument that the 160-year-old statute had been overtaken by decades of newer laws regulating the procedure, including a recent law banning abortion after the 15th week of pregnancy.

But to better understand the court itself, look no further than the year 2016, when Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, successfully expanded the court’s membership from five to seven justices.

By the time Mr. Ducey left office at the end of 2022, he had easily eclipsed the state record for judicial appointments to various courts. He had also changed the nominating process by which judges are selected, essentially giving more power to the governor.

And as an ardent conservative who frequently railed against big government and championed restrictions on immigration, he also shaped an all-Republican State Supreme Court into one that had an even more libertarian, prosecutorial and conservative activist bent.

As a result, all four of the justices who were part of the majority decision in the abortion case on Tuesday were appointed by Mr. Ducey, while the two justices who dissented over any attempt to revive the earlier law were appointed by Mr. Ducey’s Republican predecessor, Jan Brewer.

Mr. Ducey’s imprint might have been even more pronounced, had one of his appointees, Justice William G. Montgomery, not recused himself in response to complaints about a 2017 Facebook post in which he said that Planned Parenthood , one of the parties in the case, was “responsible for the greatest generational genocide known to man.”

The four judges behind reviving the abortion ban included Clint Bolick, a nationally known legal activist who helped advance an array of conservative litigation as a co-founder of the Institute for Justice , a right-leaning public interest law firm based in Washington. He oversaw similar cases in Arizona at the conservative Goldwater Institute before being appointed by Mr. Ducey to the Supreme Court in 2016.

“It’s very much a Ducey court,” said Scott Bales, a former chief justice of the Arizona Supreme Court, and a Democrat, who retired in 2019.

With the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022, the issue of abortion access has been left in the hands of the states. That has translated into a significant shift in power to courts at the state level, especially in states where the procedure has been limited or banned. Some of them, like Arizona, are dusting off statutes that are decades old for guidance.

And in a presidential election year where abortion is likely to play a prominent role, this new stream of cases has meant that more attention is being paid to the individual justices who now sit on the bench, and how they got there.

Douglas Keith, senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, said that Arizona stood out as “one of the more aggressive and more successful efforts” orchestrated by governors and legislatures to assert more control over states’ higher courts.

“The court’s makeup today is the product of a multiyear effort to lock in a conservative majority on the Arizona Supreme Court, just as the state’s politics were moving to the left,” said Mr. Keith, who is also a founding editor of State Court Report , which examines state constitutions and courts.

But Daniel Scarpinato, a former chief of staff to Mr. Ducey, said it was clear that the court’s ruling this week was based on a close reading of the law, not politics.

“The Arizona system to the greatest degree possible has drained the politics out of the judiciary,” he said. “You’ll never do it completely, but I haven’t seen a system or process that’s better than the one we have.”

The latest ruling has roiled state politics and left politicians of both parties scrambling for legislative remedies ahead of the November elections, a situation that appears to have left even Mr. Ducey with some misgivings.

“The ruling today is not the outcome I would have preferred,” he wrote on X . He encouraged officials “to heed the will of the people and address this issue with a policy that is workable and reflective of our electorate.”

In the past, Arizona’s highest court typically included Republicans and Democrats who had attended law schools in Arizona as well as East Coast institutions like Harvard and Yale. Several had clerked for Supreme Court justices, including Mr. Bales, who clerked for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, an Arizona native.

Things changed when Mr. Ducey expanded the court. Proponents argued that the courts, in one of the nation’s fastest-growing states, needed more judges to handle a growing caseload. But critics said that the new appointments had allowed the Republican state leadership to expand its influence.

The current court is made up largely of mainstream conservatives, many with backgrounds as prosecutors in Arizona and ties to the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization that advocates for a close adherence to the text of the U.S. Constitution as it was originally constructed.

Many legal analysts, both liberal and conservative, said there appeared to be a solid legal foundation for Tuesday’s ruling and an attempt to apply the State Legislature’s own recent decisions on the abortion issue.

“I don’t see it as an ideology-driven decision; I think what the majority is saying is, ‘We’re trying to be faithful to what the Arizona Legislature really intended,’” said Barbara Atwood , a law professor at the University of Arizona. “They don’t care what the Legislature intended in 1864. They care what the Legislature intended in 2022.”

Of the seven members of the bench, who face mandatory retirement at age 70, Justice Bolick is probably the only one who is widely known outside Arizona.

Justice Bolick, a 66-year-old political independent, is a conservative libertarian who is “in his own camp” ideologically, said Mr. Scarpinato, who was working in the governor’s office when the appointment was made.

The justice’s vote this week to uphold the 1864 abortion law could signal political trouble for his wife, Shawnna Bolick, a Republican member of the State Senate who was appointed to fill a vacancy and could face a tight battle for election in November. Hours after the ruling on Wednesday, Ms. Bolick called in a post on X for the State Legislature to “find common ground of common sense” and repeal the law.

Justice Montgomery drew fire from liberal critics when he was named to the bench in 2019 over his policies as county attorney and chief prosecutor in Maricopa County, where he was seen as an ally of the divisive former sheriff, Joe Arpaio. The state’s judicial nominating commission rejected his first application to join the court, citing “patterns of misconduct” during his stint as prosecutor, but Mr. Ducey named him to a vacant seat months later after replacing some members of the commission.

The calls for Justice Montgomery to recuse himself from the abortion case cited not only the inflammatory social media post but his pursuit as county attorney of a lawsuit seeking to limit abortions, a case that was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013.

Justice John R. Lopez IV, who wrote the majority opinion this week, worked in the U.S. attorney’s office in Phoenix and later as Arizona solicitor general before becoming the first Latino member of the court in 2017. James P. Beene, a former Maricopa County deputy county attorney and state appeals court judge who joined the court in 2019, is the second Latino justice.

Justice Kathryn H. King, one of two women on the court and the only one to uphold the 1864 law, was a top legal aide to Mr. Ducey when he was governor. She worked at two prominent Phoenix law firms before joining the court in 2021.

The two dissenters include the court’s current chief justice, Robert M. Brutinel, 66, and the justice who will succeed him in July, Ann A. Scott Timmer. Chief Justice Brutinel, named to the court in 2010, was a Superior Court judge in deeply conservative Yavapai County whose tenure has brought a marked degree of consensus in the court’s opinions, something he has said he was striving to achieve.

Justice Timmer, who was named to the court in 2012, previously spent a dozen years on the state Court of Appeals, including three years as chief judge.

Arizona is one of roughly 20 states where judges must face the voters to keep their jobs.

Under the system, voters must decide to retain or reject judges two years after their appointments, and every six years after that. Of 1,500 judges who have gone through the process since the mid-1970s, only six have lost — and three of those losses occurred in 2022.

No Supreme Court justice has lost, but Justice Montgomery came close, in 2022, garnering 55 percent of the vote. Republican legislators, who control the statehouse, are now considering a proposal to make it more difficult to remove Supreme Court justices except in extraordinary circumstances.

The two members of the court who face retention elections this year are Justice Bolick and Justice King.

Given the likelihood that Arizona voters will already be weighing a ballot initiative to enshrine the right to an abortion in the Constitution, those judicial races may well attract more attention than usual, said Paul Weich, a lawyer who writes the newsletter Arizona’s Law . “I would anticipate that the abortion access initiative coalition is going to be urging people to not only vote for the initiative but to vote for no on retention for those two justices.”

Kirsten Noyes contributed research.

David W. Chen reports on state legislatures, state level policymaking and the political forces behind them. More about David W. Chen

Michael Wines is a national correspondent, writing about voting and election issues. He is based in Washington, D.C. More about Michael Wines

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