Burger Supreme Court

Warren E. Burger served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1969 to 1987, an often tumultuous period in which the Court wrestled with several compelling constitutional issues. United States v. Nixon set the stage for the resignation of a President; Roe v. Wade created a nationwide debate that is as divisive today as ever before; Lemon v. Kurtzman attempted to enunciate a clear standard for vexing church-state issues; and the "Pentagon Papers" case was a landmark freedom-of-the-press decision. An impressive collection of writings by legal scholars and practitioners, including many by people who worked directly or indirectly with the Court itself, The Burger Court is the first truly systematic review of the Court's activity during Warren Burger's tenure. Such distinguished contributors as Derrick Bell, Robert Drinan, Anthony Lewis, and Mark Tushnet review individual cases and jurisprudential trends in order to render comprehensive judgments of the Court's accomplishments and shortcomings. The essays in this volume were gathered by the late Bernard Schwartz, one of America's most revered scholars of constitutional law and the editor of this book's well-received predecessor, The Warren Court: A Retrospective (OUP, 1996). As the finest overview to date of this Court's legacy and significance, The Burger Court will greatly interest anyone with a taste for constitutional issues or recent American history.

The Decline and Fall of the Supreme Court examines the contemporary work of the U.S. Supreme Court and the advice and consent role of the Senate with regard to nominees to the Court. After presenting historical background on the intentions of the federalists and 20th-century jurisprudence, the work describes the baleful effects of the recent theory known as "legal realism." The author examines the most dramatic of those effects--the polarized, polarizing, and partisan confirmation hearings with which the United States has become familiar--beginning with Abe Fortas and culminating with Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas. This study will be of interest to scholars and laypeople in American history, political science, and law.

Decision days appear to outsiders as among the most dramatic events on the Supreme Court calendar. One thinks, for instance, of Chief Justice Earl Warren, reading the unanimous opinion in Brown v. Board of Education in a courtroom pervaded by tension. But the real drama of Brown and other Supreme Court cases may well have been what went on behind the scenes. Rarely do the arguments of counsel--brilliant though they may appear to the courtroom audience--dictate the decision in an important Supreme Court case. Rather, the crucial argument in a case takes place privately among the Justices after the public hearing. Decision provides a unique behind-the-scenes look at the Supreme Court and how its Justices decide cases. Distinguished author Bernard Schwartz, described by The New York Times as "one of the nation's leading legal scholars," uses confidential conference notes, draft opinions, memoranda, letters, and interviews to tell what really goes on behind the red velour curtain. Cases and anecdotes, woven into deft discussions of the Justices and how they function, provide unmatched insights into our high tribunal. We read of the conferences where the Justices cast their votes, the decisions as to who will write opinions (one of the most critical choices made by the Chief Justice), the often extensive give and take of the draft opinion, and the intense lobbying between Justices that influences vote changes (it was Chief Justice Earl Warren's pressure on Justice Reed in Brown that made the final vote unanimous). Schwartz focuses on the Warren, Burger, and Rehnquist courts, providing not just vivid portraits of the Chief Justices themselves, but also profiles of many Associate Justices in action--including Felix Frankfurter, Byron R. White, Sandra Day O'Connor, William J. Brennan, Thurgood Marshall, and John Paul Stevens. And Schwartz includes an eye-opening discussion of the expanding role of the Justices' clerks, revealing that they are no longer merely a "staff of assistants." Instead, they have evolved into a sort of "Junior Supreme Court," which performs a major part of the judicial role--including the writing of opinions--delegated by the Constitution to the Justices themselves. Decision gives readers a privileged look at countless cases throughout the Court's history, from the Dred Scott decision to Miranda v. Arizona to the controversial decision in Roe v. Wade to United States v. Nixon (the Watergate tapes case). Highly readable, yet written with impeccable scholarship, Decision shows the Justices in action as never before. Everything you wanted to know about the Supreme Court and were afraid to ask is here, in a revealing work on the institution that has had such an impact on our law and our life.

"A timely contribution to the analysis of the American Constitution. . . . Edited by Stanley Friedelbaum, it consists of essays written predominantly by political scientists with expertise in constitutional law. The underlying theme is twofold: an exploration of the constitutional norm of federalism, and of the nature and meaning of the Bill of Rights. . . . Highly recommended for advanced undergraduate and graduate students." Choice

This new edition of this classic history of the Supreme Court discusses the selection, nomination, and appointment of each of the Justices who have sat on the U.S. Supreme Court since 1789. Abraham provides a fascinating account of the presidential motivations behind each nomination, examining how each appointee's performance on the bench fulfilled, or disappointed, presidential expectations.

By collecting together a series of essays by prominent US scholars on law, history and social science, the editors present a range of insights into current US thinking on equality.

On December 24, 1968, ten-year-old Pamela Powers was brutally murdered, her body dumped at the side of the road to freeze. Robert Anthony Williams was charged with the crime, and a series of trials, appeals, and reversals ensued. The Christian Burial Case: An Introduction to Criminal and Judicial Procedure introduces readers to the intricacies of the American legal system, using the Williams case to illustrate all the stages of the legal process from the point of arrest, to the trial, the appellate process, and, ultimately, the Supreme Court. The text clearly and concisely explains criminal and court procedures in the context of the Williams case, paying careful attention to the rights against self-incrimination and to counsel, and to the role of the exclusionary rule in our system of justice. This unique introduction to criminal justice and judicial procedure captures the imagination of the reader as it chronicles "The Christian Burial" case from beginning to end.