The Supreme Court: An Essential History, Second Edition

by Peter Charles Hoffer, Williamjames Hull Hoffer, N. E. H. Hull

Overview

For more than two centuries, the U.S. Supreme Court has provided a battleground for nearly every controversial issue in our nation’s history. Now a veteran team of talented historians—including the editors of the acclaimed Landmark Law Cases and American Society series—have updated the most readable, astute single-volume history of this venerated institution with a new chapter on the Roberts Court.

The Supreme Court chronicles an institution that dramatically evolved from six men meeting in borrowed quarters to the most closely watched tribunal in the world. Underscoring the close connection between law and politics, the authors highlight essential issues, cases, and decisions within the context of the times in which the decisions were handed down. Deftly combining doctrine and judicial biography with case law, they demonstrate how the justices have shaped the law and how the law that the Court makes has shaped our nation, with an emphasis on how the Court responded—or failed to respond—to the plight of the underdog.

Each chapter covers the Court’s years under a specific Chief Justice, focusing on cases that are the most reflective of the way the Court saw the law and the world and that had the most impact on the lives of ordinary Americans. Throughout the authors reveal how—in times of war, class strife, or moral revolution—the Court sometimes voiced the conscience of the nation and sometimes seemed to lose its moral compass. Their extensive quotes from the Court’s opinions and dissents illuminate its inner workings, as well as the personalities and beliefs of the justices and the often-contentious relationships among them.

Fair-minded and sharply insightful, The Supreme Court portrays an institution defined by eloquent and pedestrian decisions and by justices ranging from brilliant and wise to slow-witted and expedient. An epic and essential story, it illuminates the Court’s role in our lives and its place in our history in a manner as engaging for general readers as it is rigorous for scholars.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780700626816
Publisher:	University Press of Kansas
Publication date:	09/04/2018
Edition description:	Enlarged ed.
Pages:	512
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Peter Charles Hoffer is Distinguished Research Professor of History at the University of Georgia. Williamjames Hull Hoffer is professor of history at Seton Hall University. N. E. H. Hull is Distinguished Professor of Law (emerita) at Rutgers University Law School–Camden.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Part I. The Heroic Courts

1. The Origins of the U.S. Supreme Court

2. The Jay and Ellsworth Courts, 1789-1801

3. The Marshall Court, 1801-1835

4. The Taney Court, 1836-1864

5. The Chase Court, 1864-1873

Part II. The Classical Courts

6. The Waite Court, 1874-1888

7. The Fuller Court, 1888-1910

8. The White Court, 1910-1921

9. The Taft Court, 1921-1930

10. The Hughes Court, 1930-1941

Part III. The Modern Courts

11. The Stone Court, 1941-1946

12. The Vinson Court, 1946-1952

13. The Warren Court, 1953-1969

14. The Burger Court, 1969-1986

15. The Rehnquist Court, 1986-2005

16. The Roberts Court, 2005-2017

Conclusion

Bibliographic Essay

Index

Editorial Reviews

How did the Supreme Court handle Indian rights in the early 19th century? What factors influenced the Court's decision in Roe v. Wade?This timely survey looks at the intellectual, social, cultural, economic and political events that have influenced the legal history of the Court. The authors (two professors of history and one professor of law) consider whether the court is a political institution and whether in the course of two centuries "the justices have... remade the Constitution." The 15 concise chapters, each devoted to one chief justice's tenure, look at major cases and offer thumbnail sketches of each justice as individuals with unique personalities, special interests and independent judicial perspectives who "never backed away" from their role "as final arbiters of the meaning of the Constitution." The authors make evident the framers' original intent to create a Constitution founded on immutable ideals yet responsive to evolving standards through the amendment process. This illuminating re-examination is essential for those who want a historical context for current debates about America's politics and fundamental principles. 25 photos. (Sept.)

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Publishers Weekly

This ambitious book chronicles the Supreme Court from its colonial origins to the end of the Rehnquist era. Peter Charles Hoffer (history, Univ. of Georgia), Williamjames Hoffer (history, Seton Hall Coll.), and N.E.H. Hull (Distinguished Professor of Law, Rutgers Univ.) combine their expertise to give their topic a thorough exploration, moving chronologically from the Constitutional Convention through each chief justice's time on the Court. One of the book's strengths is the discussion of the associate justices and their particular contributions. For example, in U.Sv. Carolene Products(1938), involving issues of economic regulation, Justice Harlan Fiske Stone's footnote said that certain matters, such as instances of discrimination against minorities, might require stricter standards of judicial review. Such standards were applied to women's rights, civil rights, and criminals' rights by later courts and are in force today. The authors also discuss the issues that shaped each era, such as civil rights during the Warren Court, and note in an epilog that at the start of the Roberts era the Court's future path is unclear. The book's historical rather than strictly legal contextualizing distinguishes it from other Court histories. Recommended for academic and large public libraries.
—Becky Kennedy

Library Journal

Praise for the first edition:

“This splendid interpretative summary of the history of the U.S. Supreme Court is designed for students and the general public. It is an effective textbook for American constitutional history courses and contains many insights of interest to professional historians. . . . Readers will find apt analysis and enjoyable prose in this fine book.”—Journal of American History

“[It] may well be the best single volume history of the Court. . . . on the whole, balanced and brings together an extraordinary amount of material.”—Political Science Quarterly

“The authors, each an accomplished historian, give readers an historical and political lens through which to view the development of Supreme Court jurisprudence. At the same time, they illuminate the various ways in which this jurisprudence has shaped both the law and the larger history of the United States.”—Law Library Journal

“This book is exactly what the title states it to be, placing the Court’s noteworthy opinions within their institutional, social, and political contexts. Its treatment of a broad number of themes, including race and gender, is laudable. This book deserves a large audience, from novices seeking to acquaint themselves with the Supreme Court’s history to legal scholars who want a one-volume reference book in their libraries. The helpful bibliographical essay is as elegantly written as the main text of the book.”—Journal of Interdisciplinary History

“It is an attractive book for those who want a comprehensive overview of the cases that shaped our constitutional development and the Court that produced them.”—Law and Politics Book Review

“For those looking for a concise one-volume history of the Supreme Court—its major rulings, its political context, and its major justices—this is the book. Organizing their text around the terms of office of the 15 chief justices who presided over the court between 1789 and 2005, the authors masterfully weave together accounts of doctrinal developments, the political crises that engendered them, and the often larger-than-life personalities of the Court’s most significant justices. One sees U.S. history in a new light, and comes to appreciate the role of the Supreme Court in shaping that history. This is a rigorous and fair-minded account of one of America’s most important governmental institutions by a trio of distinguished historians. It is a stunning achievement, of great value to a wide range of readers. Essential.”—Choice

“A clear and comprehensive overview of the nation’s most important court and the justices who have served on it. . . . Essential reading for anyone concerned with the history of this fascinating institution.”—Lawrence Friedman, author of A History of American Law

“The single most readable and reliable narrative history of the U.S. Supreme Court yet written.”—Stanley N. Katz, editor of the Encyclopedia of Legal History

“A refreshingly case-oriented survey of the Court’s work, with lively vignettes of the individual justices.”—William M. Wiecek, author of Liberty under Law: The Supreme Court in American Life

“Indispensable for the layperson and a rich banquet for the scholar as well.”—Laura Kalman, author of The Strange Career of Legal Liberalism

From the Publisher