Supreme Court Seminar (Dawson)

John Jay was a central figure in the early history of the American Republic. A New York lawyer, born in 1745, Jay served his country with the greatest distinction and was one of the most influential of its Founding Fathers. In the first full-length biography in almost seventy years, Walter Stahr brings Jay vividly to life, setting his astonishing career against the background of the American Revolution. Drawing on substantial new material, Walter Stahr has written a full and highly readable portrait of both the public and private man. It is the story not only of John Jay himself, the most prominent native-born New Yorker of the eighteenth century, but also of his engaging and intelligent wife, Sarah, who accompanied her husband on his wartime diplomatic missions. This lively and compelling biography presents Jay in the light he deserves: as a major Founding Father, a true national hero, and a leading architect of America's future.

The inauguration of the highest court in the land.

-- Compelling portraits of American history's most notable male and female leaders -- Includes informative sidebars -- Interesting, easy-to-understand content -- Complements school curriculum Learn about the first chief justice of the United States and how he started his career fighting for American independence.

1890. Biography of Jay, American statesman and first Chief Justice of the United States. Contents: Youth; Conservative Whig Leader; Revolutionary Leader; Constructive Statesman; President of Congress; Minister to Spain; Negotiator of Peace: The Attitude of France in 1782; The Negotiations; Secretary for Foreign Affairs; Chief Justice of the United States; Special Envoy to Great Britain; Governor of New York; and In Retirement.

This masterful biography chronicles the lives of John Rutledge and Edward Rutledge, members of one of the nation's most influential political families during the American Revolutionary period. Raised in Charleston, each Rutledge brother went on to serve as a representative to the Continental Congress and as governor of South Carolina. John Rutledge (1739-1800) was a wealthy planter and successful lawyer, a leader in South Carolina's colonial Commons House of Assembly, and a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses. As chief executive of the state during most of the War for Independence, he was instrumental in its defense and recovery after the British conquest of 1780. One of the leading delegates to the United States constitutional convention in 1787, he served as chief justice of South Carolina, and briefly as associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Edward Rutledge (1749-1800), also trained as a lawyer, was a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. As a leader in the state legislature in the 1780s and 1790s and as governor, he had great influence in state and national politics. While providing insight into the remarkable lives and careers of the Rutledges, this account also serves as a fascinating history of the American Revolution and the formation of a new nation.

In Founding Federalist, Michael C. Toth provides an in-depth look at the life and work of Oliver Ellsworth, a largely forgotten but eminently important Founding Father.   The American Founding was the work of visionaries and revolutionaries. But amid the celebrated luminaries, the historic transformations, the heroic acts, and unforgettable discourses were practical politicians, the consensus builders who made the system work. Oliver Ellsworth--Framer, senator, chief justice, diplomat--was such a leader.   Founding Federalist brings to life a figure whose contributions shape American political life even today. Vividly capturing the pivotal debates at Philadelphia in the summer of 1787, Toth shows how Ellsworth was a vital force in shaping the Constitution as a Federalist document, one that did not extinguish the role of the states even as it recognized the need for national institutions. The author illuminates what Ellsworth and other Founders understood to be the meaning of the new constitutional order--a topic highly relevant to twenty-first-century debates about the role of government. Toth, an attorney, also brilliantly analyzes Ellsworth's most important legislative achievement: the creation of the U.S. federal court system.   With this insightful new biography, Michael Toth has reclaimed a figure who made crucial contributions to a lasting creation: a federal republic.  

A portrait of the US Supreme Court's activities and accomplishments under the Chief Justiceship of John Marshall. The Marshall Court established the supremacy of the federal government in areas of national concern and shaped the structure of federalism in the US before the Civil War.

This collection of essays, the result of a John Marshall Symposium held in conjunction with the state of West Virginia's celebration of the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, examines the contributions of John Marshall and the early Supreme Court from a variety of political and methodological perspectives that have been encouraged by current approaches to constitutional theory and history. It fills a gap in analysis of the constitutional foundations laid by the Marshall Court. It reflects the continuities and changes that have transpired in legal scholarship and political philosophy over the last three decades. Divided into analyses of Marshall's legal decisions, his political philosophy, and his methods of legal interpretation, the essays represent a strong and healthy diversity of opinion on Marshall's contribution to American political and legal development. The essays consider the question of how Marshall's judicial reasoning can be best applied to the continuing process of interpreting the Constitution. Marshall's contributions thus become the starting point for an exercise in political engagement. While often celebrating Marshall's achievements, the contributors attempt to move beyond mere celebration toward a critical analysis of constitutional meaning and political philosophy. Legal scholars and historians alike will welcome this cogent collection and the insight it provides into the early development of constitutional thought and interpretation.

John Marshall (1755-1835), perhaps best known for consolidating the authority of the Supreme Court, was arguably the most important judicial figure in American history. John Marshall and the Heroic Age of the Supreme Court is a biography designed to explain how Marshall's ideas about law and the Constitution developed over time-how they were related to his personal life and to the major historical developments of the age. This book, with its unifying theme being the Marshall-Thomas Jefferson rivalry, combines narrative biography with constitutional historiography.

The story of the landmark case that put the "Supreme" in Supreme Court. Among the many momentous decisions rendered by the Supreme Court, none has had a greater impact than that passed down in 1803 by Chief Justice John Marshall in the case of Marbury v. Madison. While the ruling itself was innocuous--denying the plea of a minor functionary named William Marbury on constitutionally technical grounds--its implications were enormous. For Marshall had, in essence, claimed for the Supreme Court the right to determine what the Constitution and our laws under it really mean, known formally as the principle of "judicial review." Yet, as Lawrence Goldstone shows in his compelling narrative, that right is nowhere expressed in the Constitution and was not even considered by the Framers or the Founding Fathers, who would never have granted such power in a checks-and-balances system to unelected officials serving for life. The Activist underscores the drama that occurred in 1803 by examining the debates that took place during the Constitutional Convention of 1787--among the most dramatic moments in American history--over the formation and structure of our judicial system. In parallel, Goldstone introduces in brief the life and ambition of John Marshall, and the early, fragile years of the Supreme Court, which--until Marshall's ascension to Chief Justice--sat atop the weakest of the three branches of government. Marshall made the Court supreme, and while judicial review has been used sparingly, without it the Court would likely never have intervened in the 2000 presidential election. Indeed, the great irony Goldstone reveals is that judicial review is now so enfranchised that Justice Antonin Scalia could admit, as he has, that the Supreme Court "made it up" in the same breath as he insists that justices must adhere steadfastly to the exact words of the Constitution. Nobody brings the debates of the Constitutional Convention to life as does Lawrence Goldstone, and in this election year, no more interesting book on the Supreme Court will appear than The Activist, which makes the past come alive in the present.

What Kind of Nation is an account of the bitter and protracted struggle between two titans of the early republic over the power of the presidency and the independence of the judiciary. The clash between fellow Virginians (and second cousins) Thomas Jefferson and John Marshall remains the most decisive confrontation between a president and a chief justice in American history. Fought in private as well as in full public view, their struggle defined basic constitutional relationships in the early days of the republic and resonates still in debates over the role of the federal government vis-a-vis the states and the authority of the Supreme Court to interpret laws. More than 150 years after Jefferson's and Marshall's deaths, their words and achievements still reverberate in constitutional debate and political battle. What Kind of Nation is a dramatic rendering of a bitter struggle between two shrewd politicians and powerful statesmen that helped create a United States.

The clashes between President Abraham Lincoln and Chief Justice Roger B. Taney over slavery, secession, and the president's constitutional war powers went to the heart of Lincoln's presidency. James Simon, author of the acclaimedWhat Kind of Nation-- an account of the battle between President Thomas Jefferson and Chief Justice John Marshall to define the new nation -- brings to vivid life the passionate struggle during the worst crisis in the nation's history, the Civil War. The issues that underlaid that crisis -- race, states' rights, and the president's wartime authority -- resonate today in the nation's political debate. Lincoln and Taney's bitter disagreements began with Taney'sDred Scottopinion in 1857, when the chief justice declared that the Constitution did not grant the black man any rights that the white man was bound to honor. In the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates, Lincoln attacked the opinion as a warped judicial interpretation of the Framers' intent and accused Taney of being a member of a pro-slavery national conspiracy. In his first inaugural address, President Lincoln insisted that the South had no legal right to secede. Taney, who administered the oath of office to Lincoln, believed that the South's secession was legal and in the best interests of both sections of the country. Once the Civil War began, Lincoln broadly interpreted his constitutional powers as commander in chief to prosecute the war, suspending the writ of habeas corpus, censoring the mails, and authorizing military courts to try civilians for treason. Taney opposed every presidential wartime initiative and openly challenged Lincoln's suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. He accused the president of assuming dictatorial powers in violation of the Constitution. Lincoln ignored Taney's protest, convinced that his actions were both constitutional and necessary to preserve the Union. Almost 150 years after Lincoln's and Taney's deaths, their words and actions reverberate in constitutional debate and political battle.Lincoln and Chief Justice Taneytells their dramatic story in fascinating detail.

This book looks at the life and times of the U.S. Chief Justice presiding over the legendary Dred Scott case. It provides a portrait of the man whose decision would spark the flame of the Civil War. Analysis of his character, life circumstances, and anecdotes about him all help to bring into sharp focus this renowned chief justice.

An exploration of the U.S. Supreme Court during an era of dramatic sectionalism, slavery, and the Civil War. * Includes a survey of the historical period that describes the major political, social, and economic developments of the middle decades of the 19th century such as the fierce competition between the Democratic and Whig parties, the rapid economic growth of the nation, and the Civil War * Offers an examination of the decisions reached in the Court's most important cases on the interpretation of the clauses of the Constitution relating to commerce, contract, and slavery

Salmon P. Chase was one of the preeminent men of 19th-century America. A majestic figure, tall and stately, Chase was a leader in the fight to end slavery, a brilliant administrator who as Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury provided crucial funding for a vastly expensive war, the ChiefJustice of the Supreme Court during the turmoil of Reconstruction, and the presiding officer of the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson. Yet he was also a complex figure. As John Niven reveals in this magisterial biography, Chase was a paradoxical blend of idealism and ambition. If hestood for the highest moral purposes--the freedom and equality of all mankind--these lofty ideas failed to mask a thirst for power so deeply ingrained in his character that it drove away many who shared his principles, but mistrusted his motives.Niven provides a vivid description of Chase's early years--his childhood in New Hampshire (where his father's failed business venture and early death left the family all but destitute) and in Ohio (where he was sent to live with his uncle Philander, an Episcopal bishop), his education atDartmouth, and his early law career in Cincinnati. Niven shows how the plight of the slaves stirred this reticent young lawyer, and how Chase gradually moved to the forefront of the antislavery movement. At the same time, we see how he used his growing prominence in the antislavery movement toforward his political ambitions. Niven illuminates Chase's long tenure as a public man. Twice elected United States Senator, twice chosen governor of Ohio (then the third most populous state in the Union), Chase organized the widespread but diffuse anti-slavery movement into a workable politicalorganization, the Free Soil party (whose slogan "Free Soil, Free Labor, Freemen" Chase coined himself). We read of Chase's work in Lincoln's war cabinet and his tenure as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and we also follow his many political maneuvers, his attempts to undercut rivals, and hispoorly run campaigns for presidential nominations. Niven also provides an intimate portrait of Chase's family life--his loss of three wives and four of his six children, and the unfortunate marriage of his beautiful daughter Kate to a rich but dissolute man--and a vivid picture of life atmid-century.What emerges is a portrait of a tragic figure, whose high qualities of heart and mind and whose many achievements were ultimately tarnished by an often unseemly quest for power. It is a striking look at an eminent statesman as well as a revealing glimpse into political life in 19th-centuryAmerica, all set against a background of the anti-slavery movement, the Civil War, and the turmoil of Reconstruction.

A revealing examination of the Supreme Court's justices and their "cautiously moderate" jurisprudence during the ten-year tenure of Chief Justice Salmon Portland Chase. * A-Z entries include the significant rulings involving Reconstruction and restoration of the Union such as Ex parte Milligan (1866), the Test Oath Cases (1867), Ex parte McCardle (1868), and Texas v. White (1869) * An analysis of the historical impact and continuing legacy of decisions such as the Court's narrow interpretation of the 14th Amendment in the famous Slaughterhouse Cases

Harold Hyman argues that in two cases - In Re Turner (1867) and Texas v. White (1869), Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase combined his abolitionist philosophy with an activist jurisprudence to help dismantle once and for all the deposed machineries of slavery and the confederancy.

Kens (political science and history, Texas State U.-San Marcos) recounts the history of the Supreme Court under Morrison R. Waite from 1874 to 1888, a period of racial violence and sectional strife after the Civil War, Western expansion, and commercial revolution that produced new corporate businesses and dissatisfaction among agrarian and labor interests. He challenges the conventional idea that the Waite court was transitional, provides biographical sketches of the justices who served with Waite, and describes landmark events relating to civil rights including the treatment of blacks and women; conflicts with Mormons over polygamy and religious freedom; the mistreatment of Chinese immigrants in the West; conflict over the distribution of public domain lands in the West; the building and financing of the transcontinental railroad, the Panic of 1873, the first nationwide labor strike, and the Granger movement. Other decisions relate to government regulation of businesses and the constitutional status of corporations, bankruptcy, criminal law, interstate commerce, and bonds

An extensive exploration of the major decisions and personalities of the Supreme Court during the 14-year tenure of Chief Justice Morrison Remick Waite. * A-Z entries on key people, laws, cases, events, and concepts that were relevant during the Waite Court era, including the growing volume of state economic regulations enacted to cope with industrial expansion and urban growth fueled by the Civil War and by a nationwide rail network for people and goods * An appendix including a timeline of important events for the years 1865 through 1890, plus excerpts from other important source materials, such as landmark decisions of the Waite Court

The safeguarding of economic rights during Fuller's tenure

A fresh interpretation of the workings and legacy of the Supreme Court during the tenure of Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller. * Places the work of the Fuller Court in historical context and examines the economic and social changes that were transforming U.S. society at the end of the 19th century * Provides an analysis of the historical impact and continuing legacy of the Fuller Court's decisions in the areas of federalism, protection of liberty, and the rights of property owners

The safeguarding of economic rights during Fuller's tenure.

The safeguarding of economic rights during Fuller's tenure.

This volume chronicles a transformation in American jurisprudence that mirrored the widespread political, economic and social upheavals of the early 20th century. White's tenure coincided with a shift from a rural to an urban society and the emergence of the US as a world power.

An in-depth examination of the U.S. Supreme Court under the 11-year reign of Chief Justice Edward Douglass White. * A-Z entries on key people, laws, cases, events, and concepts such as Oliver Wendell Holmes, Hipolite Egg Co. v. United States, and Standard Oil of New Jersey v. United States * Appendix with excerpts from primary documents of key cases decided during the White Court tenure

An authoritative survey of the Taft Court, which served from 1921 to 1929, and the impact it had on the U.S. legal system, social order, economics, and politics. * An A-Z set of entries on the people, laws, events, and concepts that are important to an understanding of the Taft Court * A photograph of and a brief bibliography on each justice

The inaugural volume of The Collected Works of William Howard Taft is composed of two of his earliest books, Four Aspects of Civic Duty and Present Day Problems. Based on a series of lectures delivered at Yale in 1906, Four Aspects of Civic Duty is an attempt by then Secretary of War Taft to bring to the attention of his audience the importance of civic duty from the perspective of the university graduate, the judge on the bench, the colonial administrator, and the national executive branch of government. His remarks were drawn from his own experience, while at the same time he laid down the principles of citizenship with which all people could identify. In Present Day Problems, William Howard Taft demonstrates the depth of his knowledge and the seriousness of his reflections on a wide range of topics including Sino-American relations and the ongoing contest between capital and labor in America's increasingly industrial socioeconomy. The problems he takes up are met head-on and discussed in a fashion likely to persuade his audience that he is well prepared to tackle the burdens of the presidency. The Collected Works of William Howard Taft, in eight volumes, will include Taft's complete published works as well as his presidential and state addresses and selected court opinions from his days as chief justice of the Supreme Court.

Imagine a presidential election with four well-qualified and distinguished candidates and a serious debate over the future of the nation! Sound impossible in this era of attack ads and strident partisanship? It happened nearly a century ago in 1912, when incumbent Republican William Howard Taft, former president Theodore Roosevelt running as the Progressive Party candidate, Democratic nominee Woodrow Wilson, and Socialist candidate Eugene V. Debs all spoke to major concerns of the American people and changed the landscape of national politics in the bargain. The presidential election of 1912 saw a third-party candidate finish second in both popular and electoral votes. The Socialist candidate received the highest percentage of the popular vote his party ever attained. In addition to year-round campaigning in the modern style, the 1912 contest featured a broader role for women, two exciting national conventions, and an assassination attempt on Roosevelt's life. The election defined the major parties for generations to come as the Taft-Roosevelt split pushed the Republicans to the right and the Democrats' agenda of reform set them on the road to the New Deal. Lewis L. Gould, one of America's preeminent political historians, tells the story of this dramatic race and explains its enduring significance. Basing his narrative on the original letters and documents of the candidates themselves, he guides his readers down the campaign trail through the factional splits, exciting primaries, tumultuous conventions and the turbulent fall campaign to Wilson's landslide electoral vote victory in November. It's all here--Gene Debs's challenge to capitalism, the progressive rivalry of Roosevelt and Robert La Follette, the debate between the New Freedom of Wilson and the New Nationalism of Roosevelt, and the resolve of Taft to defeat his one-time friend TR and keep the Republican Party in conservative hands. Gould combines lively anecdotes, the poetry and prose of the campaign, and insights into the clash of ideology and personality to craft a narrative that moves as fast as did the 1912 election itself. Americans sensed in 1912 that they stood at a turning point in the nation's history. Four Hats in the Ring demonstrates why the people who lived and fought this significant election were more right than they could ever have known.

This study is an account of how Taft and Holmes arrived at the summit of their public vocations. It reveals their common heritage and traces their divergence in jurisprudential matters.

Hughes began as Chief Justice when the Supreme Court mainly considered economic regulations. He retired when its primary function was the defense of personal liberties. This was no coincidence. His personal politics and career path had led him to support the expansion of rights at a constitutional level, and his court's rulings supported freedoms of speech, press and religion and extended rights for criminal defendants and racial minorities. According to Ross (law, Samford U.) the decisions of the Hughes court served as the foundation of the civil rights movement, and that court's involvement led to widespread acceptance of the New Deal.

By the author of acclaimed books on the bitter clashes between Jefferson and Chief Justice Marshall on the shaping of the nation’s constitutional future, and between Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney over slavery, secession, and the presidential war powers. Roosevelt and Chief Justice Hughes's fight over the New Deal was the most critical struggle between an American president and a chief justice in the twentieth century. The confrontation threatened the New Deal in the middle of the nation’s worst depression. The activist president bombarded the Democratic Congress with a fusillade of legislative remedies that shut down insolvent banks, regulated stocks, imposed industrial codes, rationed agricultural production, and employed a quarter million young men in the Civilian Conservation Corps. But the legislation faced constitutional challenges by a conservative bloc on the Court determined to undercut the president. Chief Justice Hughes often joined the Court’s conservatives to strike down major New Deal legislation. Frustrated, FDR proposed a Court-packing plan. His true purpose was to undermine the ability of the life-tenured Justices to thwart his popular mandate. Hughes proved more than a match for Roosevelt in the ensuing battle. In grudging admiration for Hughes, FDR said that the Chief Justice was the best politician in the country. Despite the defeat of his plan, Roosevelt never lost his confidence and, like Hughes, never ceded leadership. He outmaneuvered isolationist senators, many of whom had opposed his Court-packing plan, to expedite aid to Great Britain as the Allies hovered on the brink of defeat. He then led his country through World War II.

Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed 10 justices to the U.S. Supreme Court - more than any president except Washington - and during his presidency from 1933 to 1945, the Court gained more visibility, underwent greater change, and made more landmark decisions than it had in its previous 150 years of existence. This collection examines FDR's influence on the Supreme Court and the Court's growing influence on American life.

A comprehensive examination of the rulings, key figures, and legal legacy of the Stone Court. * Analyzes all of the important decisions that made up the Stone Court's "revolution"--particularly those that redefined the federal government's authority to regulate the economy and social welfare * Profiles the life and career of each justice, including eminent jurists Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, and Felix Frankfurter

Chronicles a changing of the docket -- from the sanctity of private property to the primacy of individual liberties.

Fred M. Vinson, the thirteenth Chief Justice of the United States, started his political career as a small-town Kentucky lawyer and rose to positions of power in all three branches of federal government. Born in Louisa, Kentucky, Vinson earned undergraduate and law degrees from Centre College in Danville. He served 12 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he achieved acclaim as a tax and fiscal expert. President Roosevelt appointed him to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and later named him to key executive-branch positions. President Truman appointed him Secretary of the Treasury and then Chief Justice. The Vinson court was embroiled in critical issues affecting racial discrimination and individual rights during the cold war. Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson of Kentucky: A Political Biography offers a wealth of insight into one of the most significant and highly regarded political figures to emerge from Kentucky.

Chronicles a changing of the docket -- from the sanctity of private property to the primacy of individual liberties.

Spanning the years from 1946 until 1953, the Vinson Court made the legal transition from World War II to the Korean War, and the outspoken justices Felix Frankfurter and Hugo Black helped shape its legacy. * Four narrative chapters on the justices, decisions, and legacy of the Vinson Court * 12 photographs and biographies of the justices who served on the Vinson Court

This is an analysis of the US Supreme Court during the tenure of Fred Vinson who served as Chief Justice from 1946 to 1953. During this period, the Court was dominated by such justices as Black, Douglas and Frankfurter, and was sharply divided on several important issues, including the rights of labour unions, communists, religious groups and racial minorities.

The supreme court under Chief Justice Earl Warren was the most revolutionary and controversial supreme court in American history. But in what sense? challenging the reigning consensus that the Warren Court, fundamentally, was protecting minorities, Lucas Powe revives the valuable tradition of looking at the supreme court in the wide political environment to find the Warren Court a functioning partner in Kennedy-Johnson liberalism. Thus the court helped to impose national liberal-elite values on groups that were outliners to that tradition - the white south, rural America, and areas of Roman Catholic dominance.

This fascinating new work focuses on the dramatic transformation of criminal justice since the end of World War II. The decisions handed down by the Supreme Court during the tenure of Chief Justice Earl Warren (1953&BAD:ndash;1969) revolutionized criminal procedure. These landmark decisions changed the course of criminal justice in the following areas:nbsp;Notification of rights, confessions and questioning by police (Miranda Rights)Search and seizureRight to counsel for indigentsnbsp;But how much has police and prosecution really changed since these decisions took effect? How much safer are the accused from the sort of abusive governmental practices that inspired the Warren Court&BAD:rsquo;s landmark rulings? How has the structure of American government changed because of these decisions? The Supreme Court and Criminal Procedure answers these questions. By presenting and analyzing primary source materials, such as brief excerpts from the Court&BAD:rsquo;s opinions, law review, articles, editorials from the popular press, and police manuals before and after the rulings, legal historian Michal Belknap paints a vivid picture of the High Court&BAD:rsquo;s impact on criminal procedure.nbsp;Key FeaturesHow the Warren court transformed criminal procedureImportant primary documentsExpert commentary from legal historian Michal Belknap

Earl Warren and the Warren Court comprises essays written by leading experts from the fields of law, history, and social science on the most important areas of the Warren Court's contributions in American law. In addition, Scheiber includes appraisals of the Warren Court's influence abroad, written by authorities of legal development in Europe, Latin America, Canada, and East Asia. This book offers a unique set of analyses that portray how innovations in American law generated by the Warren Court led to a reconsideration of law and the judicial role_and in many areas of the world, to transformations in judicial procedure and the advancement of substantive human rights. Also explored within these pages are the personal role of Earl Warren in the shaping of 'Warren era' law and the ways in which his character and background influenced his role as Chief Justice.

A masterful biography of the legendary chief justice of the United States and chairman of the Warren Commission by an award-winning journalist, using previously unavailable government documents and scores of new interviews that cast new light on this crucial figure in U.S. history. Earl Warren played a key role in nearly every defining political moment in American history in the latter half of the twentieth century. He began as an aggressive county prosecutor offended by graft and vice, then rose through California politics. As attorney general and governor, he led the country's fastest-growing state during a time of enormous change, his support for the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II one of the few blemishes on an otherwise progressive record. From his historic governorship to his pivotal years as chief justice to his role as chairman of the commission that investigated the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Warren traversed the Depression and the Cold War, the struggles to defend America against foreign enemies, and the emergence of a muscular commitment to individual liberty. As chief justice from 1953 to 1969, Warren refashioned the place of the Supreme Court in American life, overseeing cases that desegregated schools (Brown v. Board of Education), established a constitutional right of privacy (Griswold v. Connecticut), outlawed prayer in public schools (Engel v. Vitale), created a right to counsel in state trials (Gideon v. Wainwright), codified voting rights (Baker v. Carr), and revolutionized police procedure (Miranda v. Arizona). Through those cases, Warren became a target for conservative ideologues, but he also carved a place for himself as one of the Court's most respected justices and reconstructed American society into the institutions and values it upholds today. James S. Newton brings readers the first truly complete consideration of Earl Warren, taking advantage of unprecedented access to governmental, academic, and private documents pertaining to Warren's life, as well as the extensive cooperation of Warren's living children and associates. Newton illuminates both the public and the private Warren, the father of six whose own father was murdered, the stoic leader of the Masons who was touched by the difficulties of children, the sturdy yet prickly man. The result is a monumental biography of a complicated and principled figure that will become a seminal work of twentieth-century American history.

Earl Warren is rightly remembered not only as one of the great chief justices of the Supreme Court, but as one of the most influential Americans of the twentieth century. Warren Court decisions such as Brown v. Board of Education, Miranda, and Baker v. Carr have given us such famous phrases as "separate is not equal," "read him his rights," and "one-man-one-vote" - and have vastly expanded civil rights and personal liberties. A generation later the Warren Court's decisions still define American freedoms." "Ed Cray recounts this truly American story in the finest and most comprehensive biography of Earl Warren. He has interviewed nearly all of the Chief's law clerks, four of his children, and more than one hundred others, many of whom recall for the first time their years with Warren. He has read thousands of personal letters and official documents deposited in ten libraries across the country, weaving them into a tale of political intrigue, judicial politics, family reminiscences, and a loving marriage.

Maltz (law, Rutgers U.) discusses the often discongruous nature of the Burger Court, explaining its generally centrist proceedings, yet acknowledging that it, at times, produced decisions even more liberal than that of the Warren Court, its liberal predecessor. At the same time this book shows patterns that explain the doctrinal positions adopted by the majority in each case. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

A valuable analysis of the political environment, judicial records, and implications of rulings during the era of the Burger Court. * Includes extensive reference materials such as further reading and bibliographical sections directing users to primary sources and Court documents * Covers key people such as Archibald Cox and Gerald Ford, laws such as the Equal Rights Amendment and the Voting Rights Act, and events such as the Iranian Hostage Crisis and the Watergate Scandal

Details the American experience of public funding for religious elementary and secondary schools from 1620 to 1986, with special emphasis on the Burger Court. Every Supreme Court church-state case tangential to the use of public funds for religious schools during the Burger years is recorded with analysis.

The Constitution of the United States affects the daily life of every American in powerful and often unrecognized ways. Yet ever since the Constitution's adoption in 1787, its meaning - the way it is applied in actual cases - has been hotly debated. For more than two hundred years, the Supreme Court of the United States has been responsible for interpreting and defining the Constitution's meaning. In It Is So Ordered, Retired Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, who led the Supreme Court during his seventeen-year tenure, examines fourteen of the pivotal cases and historical events that defined the Constitution's real-life application. With this series of richly crafted stories, Chief Justice Burger explains how our nation's charter evolved. Here are the triumphs and tragedies of American constitutional law. In Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) the Court assured that states could not burden interstate commerce, paving the way for phenomenal commercial growth in America. In Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), the Court ruled against the freedom of a slave and set the stage for the horrors of the Civil War. In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the Court endorsed the nightmare of state-sponsored segregation of the freed slaves. Taken together, the great cases Chief Justice Burger has chosen to explore have laid the foundation for the most successful political and economic system in history. Nevertheless, they remind us that democracy, with its often inconvenient checks and balances, is not always neat and orderly. Instead, Chief Justice Burger believes democracy is people - men and women with all their virtues and flaws - working together to produce ordered liberty. Throughout It Is So Ordered, Chief Justice Burger brings alive the historical figures who helped shape the United States - Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr, and Harry Truman, among many others. And he brings to light "forgotten" heroes like Chief Justice John Marshall, who as the fourth Chief Justice gave the unproven judicial branch the power and wisdom it needed to survive, particularly in the seminal case of Marbury v. Madison. Indeed, we learn that the great stroke in Marbury had its intellectual origins in the Court's 1796 decision in Ware v. Hylton, argued (unsuccessfully) by none other than John Marshall himself. The history of many of the difficult and controversial issues we ask our Constitution to address today is reflected in It Is So Ordered. A uniquely authoritative view of our nation's most vital document, it is a work of compelling interest to citizens, pundits, and politicians alike.

The lawyers and legal commentators who contribute toWe Dissentunanimously agree that during Chief Justice William Rehnquist's nineteen-year tenure, the Supreme Court failed to adequately protect civil liberties and civil rights. This is evident in majority opinions written for numerous cases heard by the Rehnquist Court, and eight of those cases are re-examined here, with contributors offering dissents to the Court's decisions. The Supreme Court opinions criticized inWe Dissentsuggest that the Rehnquist Court placed the interests of government above the people, and as the dissents in this book demonstrate, the Court strayed far from our constitutional ideals when it abandoned its commitment to the protection of the individual rights of Americans.

Examines the complex relationship between American public opinion and the U.S. Supreme Court.

During the thirty-three years William Rehnquist has been on the Supreme Court, nineteen as Chief Justice, significant developments have defined the American legal landscape. This book is a legal biography of Chief Justice William Rehnquist of the United States Supreme Court and the legacy he created. It is an intensive examination of his thirty-three year legacy as a Supreme Court Justice based on his Court opinions, primarily in the area of constitutional law. It is written by a group of legal scholars each of whom is a specialist in the area covered by his/her chapter. The focus of the book is on Rehnquist's own legacy, not necessarily that of the Court which he headed. Thus emphasis is placed not only on the goals which he achieved, but on those that he failed to achieve.

Hudson (a research attorney with the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt U.) presents an overview and assessment of the Supreme Court during the tenure of the recently deceased Chief Justice, William J. Rehnquist. Career and other biographical information for Rehnquist open the volume, followed by a chapter profiling justices serving during Rehnquist's tenure at the head of Court. Subsequent chapters explore the views of Rehnquist and court rulings as they related to federalism; freedom of religion; freedom of expression; habeas corpus and capital punishment; other areas of criminal law; and abortion, gay rights, and affirmative action. The final chapter assesses Rehnquist as an efficient and fair administrator of the Court who articulated a consistent conservative judicial philosophy and remained committed to judicial independence.

As a young lawyer practicing in Arizona, far from the political center of the country, William Hubbs Rehnquist's iconoclasm made him a darling of Goldwater Republicans. He was brash and articulate. Although he was unquestionably ambitious and extraordinarily self-confident, his journey to Washington required a mixture of good-old-boy connections and rank good fortune. An outsider and often lone dissenter on his arrival, Rehnquist outlasted the liberal vestiges of the Warren Court and the collegiate conservatism of the Burger Court, until in 1986 he became the most overtly political conservative to sit as chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Over that time Rehnquist's thinking pointedly did not - - indeed, could not - - evolve. Dogma trumped leadership. So, despite his intellectual gifts, Rehnquist left no body of law or opinions that define his tenure as chief justice or even seem likely to endure. Instead, Rehnquist bestowed a different legacy: he made it respectable to be an expedient conservative on the Court.The Supreme Court now is as deeply divided politically as the executive and legislative branches of our government, and for this Rehnquist must receive the credit or the blame. His successor as chief justice, John Roberts, is his natural heir. Under Roberts, who clerked for Rehnquist, the Court remains unrecognizable as an agent of social balance. Gone are the majorities that expanded the Bill of Rights.The Rehnquist Court, which lasted almost twenty years, was molded in his image. In thirty-three years on the Supreme Court, from 1972 until his death in 2005 at age 80, Rehnquist was at the center of the Court's dramatic political transformation. He was a partisan, waging a quiet, constant battle to imbue the Court with a deep conservatism favoring government power over individual rights.The story of how and why Rehnquist rose to power is as compelling as it is improbable. Rehnquist left behind no memoir, and there has never been a substantial biography of him: Rehnquist was an uncooperative subject, and during his lifetime he made an effort to ensure that journalists would have scant material to work with. John A. Jenkins has produced the first full biography of Rehnquist, exploring the roots of his political and judicial convictions and showing how a brilliantly instinctive jurist, who began his career on the Court believing he would only ever be an isolated voice of right-wing objection, created the ethos of the modern Supreme Court.

While covering the basics of the structure of courts at multiple governmental levels, this book also introduces current controversies, the latest court opinions, and relates the legal system to our culture. Features include "Courts and Controversy," "Case Close-Up," and "Courts in Comparative Perspective."

When he resigned last June, Justice Stevens was the third longest serving Justice in American history (1975-2010)--only Justice William O. Douglas, whom Stevens succeeded, and Stephen Field have served on the Court for a longer time. In Five Chiefs, Justice Stevens captures the inner workings of the Supreme Court via his personal experiences with the five Chief Justices--Fred Vinson, Earl Warren, Warren Burger, William Rehnquist, and John Roberts--that he interacted with. He reminisces of being a law clerk during Vinson's tenure; a practicing lawyer for Warren; a circuit judge and junior justice for Burger; a contemporary colleague of Rehnquist; and a colleague of current Chief Justice John Roberts. Along the way, he will discuss his views of some the most significant cases that have been decided by the Court from Vinson, who became Chief Justice in 1946 when Truman was President, to Roberts, who became Chief Justice in 2005. Packed with interesting anecdotes and stories about the Court, Five Chiefs is an unprecedented and historically significant look at the highest court in the United States.

A gripping insider's account of the ideological war between the John Roberts Supreme Court and the Obama administration. Both men are brilliant, charismatic, and determined to change the course of the nation and completely at odds on almost every major constitutional issue.