Fools picked up, taken to Court, following popular response (8)
I believe the answer is:
instinct
'response' is the definition.
(I have seen 'Natural response' mean 'instinct' so perhaps 'response' could also mean 'instinct')
'fools picked up taken to court following popular' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'court' could be 'ct' (abbreviation used in road names) and 'ct' is present in the answer.
'popular' could be 'in' (something that's 'in' is fashionable) and 'in' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for instinct that I've seen before include "Basic natural drive" , "Hunch" , "Gut reaction, impulse" , "Inborn pattern of behaviour" , "Nothing learned" .)