A Supreme Court Unlike Any Other
A Supreme Court Unlike Any Other

Author: Kevin J. McMahon

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2024-04-12

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 0226831078

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A data-rich examination of the US Supreme Court's unprecedented detachment from the democratic processes that buttress its legitimacy. Today’s Supreme Court is unlike any other in American history. This is not just because of its jurisprudence but also because the current Court has a tenuous relationship with the democratic processes that help establish its authority. Historically, this “democracy gap” was not nearly as severe as it is today. Simply put, past Supreme Courts were constructed in a fashion far more in line with the promise of democracy—that the people decide and the majority rules. Drawing on historical and contemporary data alongside a deep knowledge of court battles during presidencies ranging from FDR to Donald Trump, Kevin J. McMahon charts the developments that brought us here. McMahon offers insight into the altered politics of nominating and confirming justices, the shifting pool of Supreme Court hopefuls, and the increased salience of the Court in elections. A Supreme Court Unlike Any Other is an eye-opening account of today’s Court within the context of US history and the broader structure of contemporary politics.

Supreme Myths
Supreme Myths

Author: Eric J. Segall

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2012-02-22

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13:

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This book explores some of the most glaring misunderstandings about the U.S. Supreme Court—and makes a strong case for why our Supreme Court Justices should not be entrusted with decisions that affect every American citizen. Supreme Myths: Why the Supreme Court is Not a Court and its Justices are Not Judges presents a detailed discussion of the Court's most important and controversial constitutional cases that demonstrates why it doesn't justify being labeled "a court of law." Eric Segall, professor of law at Georgia State University College of Law for two decades, explains why this third branch of the national government is an institution that makes important judgments about fundamental questions based on the Justices' ideological preferences, not the law. A complete understanding of the true nature of the Court's decision-making process is necessary, he argues, before an intelligent debate over who should serve on the Court—and how they should resolve cases—can be held. Addressing front-page areas of constitutional law such as health care, abortion, affirmative action, gun control, and freedom of religion, this book offers a frank description of how the Supreme Court truly operates, a critique of life tenure of its Justices, and a set of proposals aimed at making the Court function more transparently to further the goals of our representative democracy.

A Supreme Court Unlike Any Other
A Supreme Court Unlike Any Other

Author: Kevin J. McMahon

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2024

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 0226831086

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"Today's Supreme Court is unlike any other in American history. This is not just because of its jurisprudence. It is because today's Court is uniquely distanced from the democratic processes that buttress its legitimacy. For example, five of the nine justices took their seats after winning confirmation with the support of senators who won far fewer votes than their colleagues in opposition, and three of these five justices were also nominated by a president who lost the popular vote. In A Supreme Court Unlike Any Other, Kevin J. McMahon explains the broad historical developments that have brought us here. Drawing on historical and contemporary data and deep knowledge of Court battles during presidencies ranging from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump, he offers new insight into the shifting politics of nominating and confirming justices, the changing pool of nominees considered for the Supreme Court, and the increased salience of the Court in presidential and congressional elections. A Supreme Court Unlike Any Other is an eye-opening account of today's Court within the context of US history and the broader structure of contemporary politics"--

In the Opinion of the Court
In the Opinion of the Court

Author: William Domnarski

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 9780252065569

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In the Opinion of the Court, the first close examination of judicial opinions as a literary genre, looks at opinions handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals, and district courts, tracing their history, function, and place in legal literature. William Domnarski explores the connection between judges and their audience on the one hand, and judicial opinions and their functions, on the other. He also reveals the key roles played by the reporting and publication of judicial opinions in advancing distinctly American values, the dominance exercised by the best opinion writers, and the rise of the law clerk as an individual increasingly called on to write opinions. Domnarski pays special attention to Learned Hand and Oliver Wendell Holmes traditionally seen as the best practitioners of the genre, and devotes a chapter to Richard Posner, Chief Judge of the Seventh Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago, seen as carrying on the Hand-Holmes tradition.

Out of Order
Out of Order

Author: Sandra Day O'Connor

Publisher: Random House Incorporated

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0812993926

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The former Supreme Court justice shares stories about the history and evolution of the Supreme Court that traces the roles of key contributors while sharing the events behind important transformations.

First Among Equals
First Among Equals

Author: Kenneth W. Starr

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Published: 2008-12-14

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 0446554162

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Today's United States Supreme Court consists of nine intriguingly varied justices and one overwhelming contradiction: Compared to its revolutionary predecessor, the Rehnquist Court appears deceptively passive, yet it stands as dramatically ready to defy convention as the Warren Court of the 1950s and 60s. Now Kenneth W. Starr-who served as clerk for one chief justice, argued twenty-five cases as solicitor general before the Supreme Court, and is widely regarded as one of the nation's most distinguished practitioners of constitutional law-offers us an incisive and unprecedented look at the paradoxes, the power, and the people of the highest court in the land. In First Among Equals Ken Starr traces the evolution of the Supreme Court from its beginnings, examines major Court decisions of the past three decades, and uncovers the sometimes surprising continuity between the precedent-shattering Warren Court and its successors under Burger and Rehnquist. He shows us, as no other author ever has, the very human justices who shape our law, from Sandra Day O'Connor, the Court's most pivotal-and perhaps most powerful-player, to Clarence Thomas, its most original thinker. And he explores the present Court's evolution into a lawyerly tribunal dedicated to balance and consensus on the one hand, and zealous debate on hotly contested issues of social policy on the other. On race, the Court overturned affirmative action and held firm to an undeviating color-blind standard. On executive privilege, the Court rebuffed three presidents, both Republican and Democrat, who fought to increase their power at the expense of rival branches of government. On the 2000 presidential election, the Court prevented what it deemed a runaway Florida court from riding roughshod over state law-illustrating how in our system of government, the Supreme Court is truly the first among equals. Compelling and supremely readable, First Among Equals sheds new light on the most frequently misunderstood legal pillar of American life.

Supreme Disorder
Supreme Disorder

Author: Ilya Shapiro

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2020-09-22

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 1684510724

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NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2021: POLITICS BY THE WALL STREET JOURNAL "A must-read for anyone interested in the Supreme Court."—MIKE LEE, Republican senator from Utah Politics have always intruded on Supreme Court appointments. But although the Framers would recognize the way justices are nominated and confirmed today, something is different. Why have appointments to the high court become one of the most explosive features of our system of government? As Ilya Shapiro makes clear in Supreme Disorder, this problem is part of a larger phenomenon. As government has grown, its laws reaching even further into our lives, the courts that interpret those laws have become enormously powerful. If we fight over each new appointment as though everything were at stake, it’s because it is. When decades of constitutional corruption have left us subject to an all-powerful tribunal, passions are sure to flare on the infrequent occasions when the political system has an opportunity to shape it. And so we find the process of judicial appointments verging on dysfunction. Shapiro weighs the many proposals for reform, from the modest (term limits) to the radical (court-packing), but shows that there can be no quick fix for a judicial system suffering a crisis of legitimacy. And in the end, the only measure of the Court’s legitimacy that matters is the extent to which it maintains, or rebalances, our constitutional order.

The Supreme Court and Congress
The Supreme Court and Congress

Author: Louis Fisher

Publisher: CQ Press

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13:

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Explores how the Court operates in relation to legislative action, as well as how it has defined the extent and limits of congressional power. Traces conflicts between branches over the power of judicial review and other key separation of powers issues, civil rights for African Americans and women, individual liberties, and regulation of the national economy.

Pursuit of Justices
Pursuit of Justices

Author: David Alistair Yalof

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2001-10-15

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 9780226945460

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Yalof takes the reader behind the scenes of what happens before the Senate hearings to show how presidents decide who will sit on the highest court in the land. He draws on the papers of 7 modern presidents and firsthand interviews with key figures.