By Linda Greenhouse
For 30 years, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Linda Greenhouse chronicled the actions of the U.S. splendid courtroom and its justices as a correspondent for the recent York instances. during this Very brief creation, she attracts on her deep wisdom of the court's historical past and of its written and unwritten principles to teach readers how the preferrred court docket rather works.
Greenhouse bargains a desirable institutional biography of a spot and its people--men and girls who workout nice strength yet whose names and faces are unrecognized by way of many americans and whose paintings usually seems cloaked in secret. How do instances get to the perfect courtroom? How do the justices move approximately determining them? What detailed function does the executive justice play? What do the legislation clerks do? How does the courtroom relate to the opposite branches of presidency? Greenhouse solutions those questions by means of depicting the justices as they confront deep constitutional concerns or strive against with the that means of complicated federal statutes. all through, the writer examines many person preferrred proceedings to demonstrate issues lower than dialogue, starting from Marbury v. Madison, the seminal case which demonstrated judicial evaluation, to the hot District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), which struck down the District of Columbia's gun-control statute and which was once, strangely, the 1st time in its heritage that the court docket issued an authoritative interpretation of the second one modification. so as to add point of view, Greenhouse additionally compares the court docket to overseas courts, revealing fascinating transformations. for example, no different nation on the planet has selected to bestow existence tenure on its judges.
A great evaluation filled with telling info, this quantity bargains a matchless advent to at least one of the pillars of yank government.
Reviews:
"[A] new exceptional e-book at the excellent Court." --SCOTUSblog
"Linda Greenhouse has lengthy been some of the most astute observers of the U.S. ideal courtroom and so much depended on translators of its mysteries and traditions. This stylish and concise advisor is helpful for rookies and veteran courtroom watchers alike. a great creation to the courtroom for college students and voters of all ages." --Jeffrey Rosen, professor of legislations, George Washington collage, and felony affairs editor, the hot Republic
"There is not often a person within the nation, outdoor the courtroom, who is aware the establishment and its practices in addition to Linda Greenhouse does."--Melvin I. Urofsky, writer of Louis D. Brandeis: A lifestyles
"Greenhouse cogently illustrates the historical past, services, composition and significance of the preferrred courtroom. In a narrow quantity that you should actually hold round on your pocket, you can find a wealth of knowledge." --Yale day-by-day News
"[A]n amuse-bouche of a publication . . . brief, yet pithy. After completing this booklet, readers might be encouraged to absorb [Greenhouse's] implicit invitation to examine the courtroom and its influence on shaping American legislations in a extra enormous, meatier format." --Judicature
"For these attracted to how circumstances emerge as heard by way of the court docket, the method resulting in a call and the Court's courting with the opposite branches of the government and the general public, this is often a great method to begin." --Washington autonomous overview of Books
Read Online or Download The U.S. Supreme Court: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) PDF
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Additional resources for The U.S. Supreme Court: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
Example text
He remained on the Court for another seven years. The episode established the principle that disagreement with a judge’s judicial acts is not a valid reason for impeachment. Nonetheless, there were calls during the 1960s for the impeachment of Chief Justice Earl Warren, and in 1970 the Republican leader of the House of Representatives, Gerald R. Ford, led an effort to impeach Justice William O. Douglas, an outspoken liberal. Ford’s campaign against Douglas, backed by the Nixon administration, centered on the justice’s activities off the bench, including his multiple marriages, publication of a book and magazine articles, and service on the board of a private foundation.
Some were dismissive of civil rights claims 31 The justices Yet despite coming before the Judiciary Committee in a position of strength in 1993, Ginsburg set a precedent that shaped subsequent confirmation hearings: she declined to engage the senators in more than minimal conversation about her views. Without disavowing any of her public positions, she refused to answer abstract questions and deflected more specific questions by saying that she should not take a position on an issue that might well come before the Court.
Even though Justice William J. Brennan Jr. was the engineer of a number of Warren Court landmarks, Chief Justice Warren’s name is firmly attached to the era during which a liberal majority of the Supreme Court harnessed the Constitution as an instrument of social change. 45 The chief justice Although most functions of the chief justice’s office are unseen by the public, the relatively recent tradition of the annual report serves to underscore the symbolic role the chief justice plays as the public embodiment of the third branch.