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Title: A People's History of the Supreme Court by Peter H. Irons, Howard Zinn ISBN: 0-14-029201-2 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 01 August, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.12 (16 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Very Good
Comment: This book is not nearly as poignant as its inspiration, Zinn's A People's History of the United States. While Zinn's title will anger friends of the corporate world, millionaires, and the hopelessly-stuck-in-the-middle-class individuals who amazingly follow them, Iron's book is more objective.
The major strengths of the book are: the short biographies and stories of the people involved in the cases and the justices (how many people actually know who Plessy was?); a professional and informative, but not academic, writing style that will not alienate 99% of the public (hint: if you see a history book written by a professor, put it down and look for another - they write for other professors and themselves, not to add anything significant to the field of history); and the introduction detailing how the Constitution was created -- quite possibly the best telling of the story I have ever read.
Overall, a very good book and an ideal introduction to a history of the Supreme Court.
Rating: 5
Summary: great history
Comment: The supreme court has influenced our country greately over the ages but seems to get less attention that the presidency or congress. Peter Irons provides a excellent account of the supreme court from its inception at the during the constitutional convention to the present. It deals with why it was created. It also looks at how the court has influenced the country through different decisions. It looks at how the court dealt with government power, slavery, civil rights, aboration and other issues. It deals with how the cases were brought before the court and the people involved in the cases. It also takes a look at the justices to see how they were picked and their influence on the court.
Rating: 4
Summary: Stimulating interpretation of the history of the Court
Comment: In this book, Peter Irons offers a refreshingly stimulating interpretation of the history of the Supreme Court. His approach, which focuses on understanding the personalities on the bench and behind the cases, serves as an invaluable reminder that laws and created and interpreted by people who bring their views and experiences into this process. Irons begins this process with himself; in the introduction he expresses his belief that "the Constitution's basic command is that every person must be accorded the dignity he or she deserves as a human being."(xv) This view serves as the basis for his analysis in the book.
Irons divides the history of the Court into six parts. The first section looks at the prehistory of American law, the period before the ratification of the American constitution. He starts with the colonial era, focusing on the New England region to the exclusion of the other areas. While this distorts a more complete understanding of the broader background, it does allow Irons to more clearly identify ideas and doctrines that are relevant to today's jurisprudential issues. His account of the Constitutional Convention is more rote; all the classic debates are recounted, from the Great Compromise to the arguments over the enumerated powers of the government.
It is with the discussion of the beginning of the Court that Irons' narrative comes to life and the pattern of the remainder of the book emerges. In presenting the history of the Court Irons concentrates his account on specific cases that best illustrate his argument. Though episodic, this provides for a clearer presentation of the evolution of the Court's overall jurisprudence over time. This is evident from the first with his analysis of John Marshall. Irons sees the Court initially focusing on questions of property rights, of which Marshall was a stanch defender. Such defense often came at the expense of the rights of debtors, farmers, and African Americans, though Marshall excelled at writing opinions that advanced his interpretations while depriving opponents of any grounds on which to launch political challenges.
The enshrining of property rights also provided critical legal support in defending the institution of slavery. The legal battles surrounding slavery and its aftermath occupied the Court for most of the middle third of the 19th century and comprise the third section of Irons' book. Here the author focuses on Marshall's replacement, Roger B. Taney, as the main character in his account, stressing the fundamentally racist (and in Irons' opinion, unexamined) views that lay behind Taney's flawed legal defense of slavery. Irons' account of the Dred Scott case is one of the best parts of the books, offering a good introduction to the people behind one of the most controversial decisions in the Court's history. By contrast, his discussion of the Court's jurisprudence stemming from the Civil War is one of the book's most disappointing parts, while his analysis of the Reconstruction-era cases over civil rights focuses more on the legislative efforts and constitutional amendments passed than on the Court's role in limiting the extension of the rights supposedly granted by these measures.
With the Civil War resolving the issue of slavery (if not that of the role of blacks in American life), the Court's docket was increasingly occupied with cases involving economic rights. Irons' coverage of these issues comprises the fourth section of his book. The Court he chronicles during this period was comprised of unabashed defenders of business interests who consistently limited government's ability to regulate economic activity. Irons attributes these views to the backgrounds and connections of the justices of the period, most of whom were former railroad attorneys who maintained (unethical) connections with private interests. The generally conservative mentality also prevailed in matters of civil liberties, where opponents of unabashed capitalism fell victim to laws passed during World War I that made disloyal speech illegal - laws that were generally upheld by the Court.
It was only during the New Deal of the 1930s and the aftermath of President Franklin Roosevelt's "court-packing" plan that the Supreme Court that the Supreme Court changed course and endorsed governmental regulation of the economy. This opened a new era in Supreme Court jurisprudence, one focusing more on cases involving individual rights rather than on economic matters, and is the subject of the final two sections of his book. Here the author is in his element, having written on civil liberties before (and even being directly involved in the history of one of the topics he chronicles, that of the Japanese internments) and his solid narrative ends the book on a strong note.
Irons' interpretative lens offers a refreshingly different account of the history of the Court. Whereas previous historians have often written about the Court as if it were a faceless entity dispensing legal philosophy, Irons shows how the justices' preconceived legal and political ideologies often shaped the law. While some readers may disagree with Irons' ideological perspective, it does introduce a much-needed perspective into examining the impact of the Court in the context of its times. Yet Irons' work is undermined by the poor editing of the book. The text is plagued with historical inaccuracies which, though minor, often create doubts as to the veracity of the broader argument. Even more egregious is the poor job in checking the endnotes, with the reader often forced to comb through the bibliography in search of the full listing of the work cited. Again, while relatively minor, it suggests a slapdash quality that can undermine the broader insights of the book.
Such problems require the reader to treat this book with a degree of wariness. Nonetheless, Irons has written an engaging account of the history of the Supreme Court, one that stimulates the reader and helps them to better understand the role of the Court in shaping the development of the nation - and how it continues to influence us today.
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Title: Closed Chambers: The Rise, Fall, and Future of the Modern Supreme Court by Edward Lazarus ISBN: 0140283560 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: June, 1999 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions by Kermit Hall ISBN: 0195139240 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: March, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Courage of Their Convictions: Sixteen Americans Who Fought Their Way to the Supreme Court by Peter H. Irons ISBN: 0140128107 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: March, 1990 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: A People's History of the United States : 1492-Present by Howard Zinn ISBN: 0060528370 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: A History of the Supreme Court by Bernard Schwartz ISBN: 0195093879 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: February, 1995 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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