Supreme Myths

Supreme Myths PDF Author: Eric J. Segall
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
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.

Supreme Myths

Supreme Myths PDF Author: Eric J. Segall
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 281

Get Book Here

Book Description
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.

Justices, Presidents, and Senators

Justices, Presidents, and Senators PDF Author: Henry Julian Abraham
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742558953
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 492

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Book Description
Explains how United States presidents select justices for the Supreme Court, evaluates the performance of each justice, and examines the influence of politics on their selection.

Jewish Justices of the Supreme Court

Jewish Justices of the Supreme Court PDF Author: David G. Dalin
Publisher: Brandeis University Press
ISBN: 161168238X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
The first history of the eight Jewish men and women who have served or who currently serve as justices of the Supreme Court

The Court and the World

The Court and the World PDF Author: Stephen Breyer
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 1101912073
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
In this original, far-reaching, and timely book, Justice Stephen Breyer examines the work of the Supreme Court of the United States in an increasingly interconnected world, a world in which all sorts of activity, both public and private—from the conduct of national security policy to the conduct of international trade—obliges the Court to understand and consider circumstances beyond America’s borders. Written with unique authority and perspective, The Court and the World reveals an emergent reality few Americans observe directly but one that affects the life of every one of us. Here is an invaluable understanding for lawyers and non-lawyers alike.

A Republic, If You Can Keep It

A Republic, If You Can Keep It PDF Author: Neil Gorsuch
Publisher: Forum Books
ISBN: 0525576797
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Justice Neil Gorsuch reflects on his journey to the Supreme Court, the role of the judge under our Constitution, and the vital responsibility of each American to keep our republic strong. As Benjamin Franklin left the Constitutional Convention, he was reportedly asked what kind of government the founders would propose. He replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” In this book, Justice Neil Gorsuch shares personal reflections, speeches, and essays that focus on the remarkable gift the framers left us in the Constitution. Justice Gorsuch draws on his thirty-year career as a lawyer, teacher, judge, and justice to explore essential aspects our Constitution, its separation of powers, and the liberties it is designed to protect. He discusses the role of the judge in our constitutional order, and why he believes that originalism and textualism are the surest guides to interpreting our nation’s founding documents and protecting our freedoms. He explains, too, the importance of affordable access to the courts in realizing the promise of equal justice under law—while highlighting some of the challenges we face on this front today. Along the way, Justice Gorsuch reveals some of the events that have shaped his life and outlook, from his upbringing in Colorado to his Supreme Court confirmation process. And he emphasizes the pivotal roles of civic education, civil discourse, and mutual respect in maintaining a healthy republic. A Republic, If You Can Keep It offers compelling insights into Justice Gorsuch’s faith in America and its founding documents, his thoughts on our Constitution’s design and the judge’s place within it, and his beliefs about the responsibility each of us shares to sustain our distinctive republic of, by, and for “We the People.”

Judging Inequality

Judging Inequality PDF Author: James L. Gibson
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 161044907X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description
Social scientists have convincingly documented soaring levels of political, legal, economic, and social inequality in the United States. Missing from this picture of rampant inequality, however, is any attention to the significant role of state law and courts in establishing policies that either ameliorate or exacerbate inequality. In Judging Inequality, political scientists James L. Gibson and Michael J. Nelson demonstrate the influential role of the fifty state supreme courts in shaping the widespread inequalities that define America today, focusing on court-made public policy on issues ranging from educational equity and adequacy to LGBT rights to access to justice to worker’s rights. Drawing on an analysis of an original database of nearly 6,000 decisions made by over 900 judges on 50 state supreme courts over a quarter century, Judging Inequality documents two ways that state high courts have crafted policies relevant to inequality: through substantive policy decisions that fail to advance equality and by rulings favoring more privileged litigants (typically known as “upperdogs”). The authors discover that whether court-sanctioned policies lead to greater or lesser inequality depends on the ideologies of the justices serving on these high benches, the policy preferences of their constituents (the people of their state), and the institutional structures that determine who becomes a judge as well as who decides whether those individuals remain in office. Gibson and Nelson decisively reject the conventional theory that state supreme courts tend to protect underdog litigants from the wrath of majorities. Instead, the authors demonstrate that the ideological compositions of state supreme courts most often mirror the dominant political coalition in their state at a given point in time. As a result, state supreme courts are unlikely to stand as an independent force against the rise of inequality in the United States, instead making decisions compatible with the preferences of political elites already in power. At least at the state high court level, the myth of judicial independence truly is a myth. Judging Inequality offers a comprehensive examination of the powerful role that state supreme courts play in shaping public policies pertinent to inequality. This volume is a landmark contribution to scholarly work on the intersection of American jurisprudence and inequality, one that essentially rewrites the “conventional wisdom” on the role of courts in America’s democracy.

Leaving the Bench

Leaving the Bench PDF Author: David Neal Atkinson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Examining each of the nearly 100 men who have left the US Supreme Court, explores their resignations and retirements from the lifetime tenure. Considers the diverse circumstances under which they leave and clarifies why they often are reluctant to do so, finding factors such as pensions, party loyalty, and personal pride. Also relates physical ailments to mental faculties to explain how a justice's disability can affect Court decisions. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story

Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story PDF Author: R. Kent Newmyer
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 9780807841648
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 516

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Book Description
The primary founder and guiding spirit of the Harvard Law School and the most prolific publicist of the nineteenth century, Story served as a member of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1811 to 1845. His attitudes and goals as lawyer, politician, judge, and leg

God Save this Honorable Court

God Save this Honorable Court PDF Author: Laurence H. Tribe
Publisher: Random House (NY)
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
Tribe's new book takes on William Rehnquist, senators seeking a precise litmus test for judicial appointments, champions of judicial restraint, and, sub silentio, Edwin Meese. His study of the political history of High Court appointees demolishes several claims.g., that one justice cannot make a difference in judicial proceedings and myths that of ``strict constructionism,'' with Tribe insisting that literal adherence to the constitutional text abdicates judicial responsibility. So, too, he finds, does the inevitably inconclusive inquiry into the Framers' intent. Then there is the myth of the ``spineless Senate,'' which, he shows, is anything but the case. Tribe's respect for the Court's power is boundless; not that he is uncritical, but he does appreciate its extraordinary influence, and, given it, argues that Senate and nation must subject each nominee to the closest scrutiny. This tightly argued appeal can be readily followed by nonlawyers. It should be heeded. Milton Cantor, History Dept., Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst - Library Journal.

The Texas Supreme Court

The Texas Supreme Court PDF Author: James L. Haley
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292744587
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
“Few people realize that in the area of law, Texas began its American journey far ahead of most of the rest of the country, far more enlightened on such subjects as women’s rights and the protection of debtors.” Thus James Haley begins this highly readable account of the Texas Supreme Court. The first book-length history of the Court published since 1917, it tells the story of the Texas Supreme Court from its origins in the Republic of Texas to the political and philosophical upheavals of the mid-1980s. Using a lively narrative style rather than a legalistic approach, Haley describes the twists and turns of an evolving judiciary both empowered and constrained by its dual ties to Spanish civil law and English common law. He focuses on the personalities and judicial philosophies of those who served on the Supreme Court, as well as on the interplay between the Court’s rulings and the state’s unique history in such areas as slavery, women’s rights, land and water rights, the rise of the railroad and oil and gas industries, Prohibition, civil rights, and consumer protection. The book is illustrated with more than fifty historical photos, many from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It concludes with a detailed chronology of milestones in the Supreme Court’s history and a list, with appointment and election dates, of the more than 150 justices who have served on the Court since 1836.