Read more
Stuart Banner's
The Most Powerful Court in the World is an authoritative history of the United States Supreme Court from the Founding era to the present. Not merely a history of the Court's opinions and jurisprudence, it is also a rich account of the Court in the broadest sense--of the sorts of people who become justices and the methods by which they are chosen, of how the Court does its work, and of its relationship with other branches of government. Rather than praising or criticizing the Court's decisions, Banner makes the case that one cannot fully understand the decisions without knowing about the institution that produced them.
List of contents
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1. Establishing the Court
- 2. Itinerant Judges on a Part-time Court
- 3. Federal and State Power
- 4. Slaves and Indians
- 5. The Court and the Civil War
- 6. Life at the Court, 1870-1930
- 7. The Jim Crow Court
- 8. The Lochner Era
- 9. The Birth of the Modern Court
- 10. Court-Packing and Constitutional Change
- 11. The Justices at War
- 12. Desegregation
- 13. The Liberal Court
- 14. A Partial Counterrevolution
- 15. New Paths to the Court
- 16. Back to the Right
- Notes
- Index
About the author
Stuart Banner is the Norman Abrams Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of several books about the history of the American legal system, including How the Indians Lost Their Land; The Death Penalty; The Decline of Natural Law; Speculation; The Baseball Trust; and American Property.
Summary
An authoritative, even-handed, and accessible history of the Supreme Court of the United States, the most powerful court in the world and the final arbiter of the world's oldest constitution.
Will abortion be legal? Should people of the same sex be allowed to marry? May colleges prefer black applicants over white ones? These are among the most bitterly contested issues in the United States today. We answer these questions, and many more, by presenting them to nine lawyers--the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. No other nation commits so many important questions to its highest court.
Stuart Banner's The Most Powerful Court in the World is an authoritative history of the United States Supreme Court from the Founding era to the present. Not merely a history of the Court's opinions and jurisprudence, it is also a rich account of the Court in the broadest sense--of the sorts of people who become justices and the methods by which they are chosen, of how the Court does its work, and of its relationship with other branches of government. It is about how the Court acquired so much power, how it has retained its power in the face of repeated challenges and criticisms, and what it has done with its power over the years. Rather than praising or criticizing the Court's decisions, Banner makes the case that one cannot fully understand the decisions without knowing about the institution that produced them.
Offering a fresh analytical window into today's contentious debates about the Court--debates that often rest on dubious ideas about the Court's history--The Most Powerful Court in the World helps readers see cases through the justices' eyes.
Additional text
STARRED REVIEW: Accessible, intelligent, and colorful ... With clear-minded authority, Banner tells the story of a crucial, but misunderstood, part of the constitutional structure.
