Chief Justice Rehnquist's engaging writing illuminates both the high and low points in the Court's history, from Chief Justice Marshall's dominance of the Court during the early nineteenth century through the landmark decisions of the Warren Court. Citing cases such as the Dred Scott decision and Roosevelt's Court-packing plan, Rehnquist makes clear that the Court does not operate in a vacuum, that the justices are unavoidably influenced by their...

The Supreme Court is the most mysterious branch of government, and yet it is at root a human institution, made up of very bright people with very strong egos, for whom political and judicial conflicts often become personal. In this character-driven history, Rosen recounts the history of the Court through the personal and philosophical rivalries on the bench that transformed the law--and by extension, our lives. Through these four rivalries, he brings...

Former Justice Stevens discusses the accomplishments of the earliest Chief Justices and the role of Chief Justice, profiles each of the Chief Justices he knew personally and their most important cases, and describes his relationship with each.

"Bestselling author Ted Stewart explains how the Supreme Court and its nine appointed members now stand at a crucial point in their power to hand down momentous and far-ranging decisions. Today's Court affects every major area of American life, from health care to civil rights, from abortion to marriage. This fascinating book reveals the complex history of the Court as told through seven pivotal decisions. These cases originally seemed narrow in scope,...

In 1800, the United States teetered on the brink of a second revolution. The presidential election between Adams and Jefferson was a bitterly contested tie, and the government neared collapse. The Supreme Court had no clear purpose or power-no one had even thought to build it a courtroom in the new capital city. When Adams sought to prolong his policies in defiance of the electorate by packing the courts, the fine words of the new Constitution could...

"Keith Richotte begins his playful, unconventional look at Native American and Supreme Court history with a question: When did plenary power--the federal government's self-appointed, essentially limitless authority over Native America--become constitutional? When the Supreme Court first embraced this massive federal authority in the 1880s it did not bother to find any justification for the decision, which was rooted in racist ideas about tribal nations....

A study of the man who led the Supreme Court as the nineteenth century ended and the twentieth began, exploring issues of property, government authority, and more. In this comprehensive interpretation of the Supreme Court during the pivotal tenure of Melville W. Fuller, James W. Ely Jr., provides a judicial biography of the man who led the Court from 1888 until 1910 as well as a comprehensive and thoughtful analysis of the jurisprudence dispensed...

"An incisive biography of the Supreme Court's enigmatic Chief Justice, taking us inside the momentous legal decisions of his tenure so far. John Roberts was named to the Supreme Court in 2005 claiming he would act as a neutral umpire in deciding cases. His critics argue he has been anything but, pointing to his conservative victories on voting rights and campaign finance. Yet he broke from orthodoxy in his decision to preserve Obamacare. How are we...

Beginning in 1935, in a series of devastating decisions, the Supreme Court's conservative majority left much of Franklin Roosevelt's agenda in ruins. The pillars of the New Deal fell in short succession. It was not just the New Deal but democracy itself that stood on trial. In February 1937, Roosevelt struck back with an audacious plan to expand the Court to fifteen justices-and to "pack" the new seats with liberals who shared his belief in a "living"...

Between 1865 and 1870, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the U.S., the 14th conferred citizenship and equal protection under the law to all Americans, white or black, and the 15th gave black American males the right to vote. In 1875 the far reaching Civil Rights Act granted all Americans regardless of color "the full and equal enjoyment" of public conveyances and places of amusement. Yet eight years later, in 1883, the Supreme Court, by an 8-1...