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Title: The Supreme Court's Retreat from Reconstruction: A Distortion of Constitutional Jurisprudence (Contributions in Legal Studies) by Frank J. Scaturro ISBN: 0-313-31105-6 Publisher: Greenwood Press Pub. Date: 30 March, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $99.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)

Rating: 4
Summary: The Constitution Need Not "Evolve" Only to the Left
Comment: One of the self-satisfied myths of modern liberal legal jurisprudence is that the U.S. Constitution is a "living" document, constantly "evolving" to accommodate the (rarely stated, but always implicit) idea that the political ratchet only moves to the left.

Scaturro, a New York attorney with an historical bent (his other book is "President Grant Reconsidered"), sets out to demonstrate, in the words of the old song, "it ain't necessarily so." By cataloguing the various ways in which the post-Reconstruction Supreme Court steadily eviscerated such seemingly straightforward constitutional guarantees as the right of freed slaves to vote, he shows that constitutional interpretation can indeed take on a decidedly reactionary cast as well.

This should be a sobering thought for those of any political persuasion who believe you can read just about any policy preference into the Constitution if only you squint hard enough. Cut loose from the anchor chain of the plain meaning of the Constitutional text and you will not be in a position to complain if you find yourself tossed on the waves of an unexpected storm.

Rating: 5
Summary: Work of exceptional legal scholarship
Comment: This book is a valuable resource for any legal scholar or historian who is interested in the historical and legal background of the fourteenth amendment. Professor Scaturro provides clear and convincing evidence to support his controversial argument that the Supreme Court has consistently misinterpreted the fourteenth amendment and that desegregation and congressional enforcement of civil rights reflected the original meaning of the amendment.