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The Supreme Court By William H. Rehnquist ( Vintage )
Release Date: 2002-02-05
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Product Description
This new edition of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist’s classic book offers a lively and accessible history of the Supreme Court. His engaging writing illuminates both the high and low points in the Court's history, from Chief Justice Marshall’s dominance of the Court during the early nineteenth century through the landmark decisions of the Warren Court. Citing cases such as the Dred Scott decision and Roosevelt's Court-packing plan, Rehnquist makes clear that the Court does not operate in a vacuum, that the justices are unavoidably influenced by their surroundings, and that their decisions have real and lasting impacts on our society.
The public often hears little about the Supreme Court until decisions are handed down. Here, Rehnquist reveals its inner workings--the process by which cases are chosen, the nature of the conferences where decisions are made, and the type of debates that take place. With grace and wit, this incisive history gives a dynamic and informative account of the most powerful court in the nation and how it has shaped the direction America has taken.
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Amazon.com Review
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist sets a simple goal for himself: "This book is designed to convey to the interested, informed layman, as well as lawyers who do not specialize in constitutional law, a better understanding of the role of the Supreme Court in American government." He succeeds fabulously. The Supreme Court, an updated version of a book originally published in 1987, is a succinct and readable account of the Court's past and present. Rehnquist avoids getting bogged down in the minutia of particular cases, even as he deftly covers the details of several extremely important ones, such as Marbury v. Madison and Dred Scott v. Sandford. The most interesting parts of the book explain how the current Court goes about its business. In these fascinating chapters, Rehnquist consistently includes nifty touches, such as how his law clerks decide who gets to work on which cases and the strict seating protocol that is followed when the nine justices--and nobody else--sit in conference to discuss their votes. If there's a knock on the door, it's the most junior justice who must answer. They don't really discuss cases at all during these meetings, but rather state their views. "I do not believe that conference discussion changes many votes," writes the Chief Justice. Oral arguments, on the other hand, are different: "In a significant minority of the cases in which I have heard oral argument, I have left the bench feeling differently about a case than I did when I came to the bench." Rehnquist briefly lays out his own theory of jurisprudence in a short concluding chapter: "Go beyond the language of the Constitution, and the meaning that may be fairly ascribed to the language, and into the consciences of individual judges, is to embark on a journey that is treacherous indeed." Yet The Supreme Court largely skips comment on existing controversies, such as abortion rights, race-based policies, or the outcome of the 2000 presidential election. The book is exactly what Rehnquist promises: An accessible and enlightening introduction to a vital institution. --John J. Miller
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 Excellent Historical Review! ( caesar_augustus )
Chief Justice Rehnquist is a great historian who focuses his history of the Supreme Court on the cases it has decided.
He takes the reader down the path of US history by telling the story fo the Court.
He ends the book with a brief few chapters on how the Court operates today, which is extremely insightful.
I was taking Con Law I at the time I read this book and it helped put the cases I was reading in a historical perspective.
Very good, a must read for the historian/Constitutional Law student!
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Excellent introduction to the Supreme Court ( ahcomeon )
I was pleasantly surprised by this introduction to the Supreme Court. It is written in accessible prose that covers the history of the Court and Rehnquist's own experiences as a law clerk for Justice Robert Jackson and as a judge on the Court. His own experiences illuminate the duties of the law clerk and the justices and how cases come to, and are decided by, the Supreme Court. The process of petitioning for a writ of certiorari to oral arguments and finally to conferences are brought to life by Rehnquist's accounts.
The book's history of the court is lucid, providing the historical context, the details of most important cases, and the ramifications of the decisions. Renqhist begins with the most important case, Marbury vs. Madison (during the Marshall Court), which established judicial review of the constitutionality of laws passed by Congress. What is made crystal clear is that the Court has evolved on many levels. The number of judges and their court rooms have change. The federal judiciary and the duties of the judges have changed. (Early on the judges had to travel and decided cases on the regional appeal circuit. Later Congress set-up the regional, federal appeals circuit courts, relieving the Supreme Court of the growing numbers of federal appeals cases.). The way cases reach the Supreme Court has changed and the influence of the Supreme Court has grown in importance. But what is also clear is that Supreme Court hasn't always gotten it right (the Dred Scott case) nor has it shied away from overturning precedent (Brown vs. the Board of Education). On the other hand, it often gets it right and is alive with relevance in the time decisions are made and through the careful work of the thoughtful men and women that make up the Court.
The book is non-ideological and Rehnquist stops his history after the Warren Court. As an act of respect and dignity he did not comment on the present Court members or their decisions.
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"The Supreme Court" is Supreme ( jcentavo )
This is a great book for those who want to learn about the workings and history of the U.S. Supreme Court. Former Chief Justice Rehnquist wrote brilliantly and in a way where any layperson could understand and gain further knowledge about the highest court in our land. For anyone who wants to learn more about the Supreme Court and understand its importance to our country, this book is a must.
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 Solid Introduction the Supreme Court
Having served on the Supreme Court for over 33 years, William Rehnquist has an excellent vantage point to provide his readers with a very solid introduction to the nation's highest court. The first half of this book is a very readable and informative overview of the history of the court including Marbury v. Madison, the Dred Scott case, FDR's failed court packing plan, and the Steel Seizure case. Out of the many larger-than-life figures in this choronology, John Marshall stands pre-eminently as the most influential in the court's history (and one of the most underrated in the founding of our nation). The second half of the book deals with the administrative workings of the Supreme Court and is described in more detail and better than any outsider could.
It can be difficult to organize the history of any institution into clearly delineated sections and the Supreme Court is certainly no exception. Rehnquist chose to break down his history in chapters named after the most prominent judges (not always the Chief Justice). For the most part, this works well, but the introduction of new judges would always lead to digressions into their backgrounds which can be distracting and would probably have been best left to appendices for the more minor characters. Rehnquist's own personal observations are mostly very insightful, but there are a few (notably his conversation with his landlord and his delayed plane trip) did not add much value to the reader.
One issue to take note of is that the author deliberately ends his history with the conclusion of the Warren Court in order note to comment on any of the cases he has been directly involved in. This leaves the reader with gap of over 30 years from the end of the history to the present day.
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Fascinating personal experience but spotty history
The highlight of this book for me were those chapters that dealt directly with the author's personal experience. At the age of twenty-seven he drove a heaterless Studebaker from his home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in midwinter to start his first job in the legal profession, clerking for Supreme Court Associate Justice Jackson. He describes his initial experiences as a clerk and his impressions of the justices who served at that time, especially Frankfurter and Douglas. One case that made a particularly strong impression upon him concerned Truman's seizure of steel mills during the Korean War. The concern about abuse of Presidential power, seen at close range here, is extended in the book to a chapter devoted to FDR's attempt to pack the Court. He does not go into lengthy detail about his particular experiences as an Associate Justice and then as Chief Justice, but the three chapters on how cases are chosen, oral arguments presented, and cases decided are very interesting. He lists what he views as the different types of lawyers who present oral arguments, and blends his own experience in mentioning what a memorable and pressure-cooker situation it can be for those doing the presenting.
The problem with the historical part of the book is that it is very selectively focused and somewhat wanting in broadly addressing the issues involved. He provides helpful background concerning the railroad monopolies and the struggles of farmers to lessen the control of middle men, but in other instances of the laissez-faire economics of the industrial revolution, I have to question whether he is telling the full story. For a very long time, the balance between the monopoly power of the few at the expense of the welfare of the community was weighing heavily toward the few. When the New Deal came along, it may have shifted the balance too far the other way, but coming on the heels of the Great Depression, it did finally provide for worker's rights which could only be of positive benefit to the community. The Court packing chapter was interesting and FDR certainly sounds like he overstepped his bounds, but at the same time there were other things going on in the Court that were of historical significance and it is notable that people at that time faced many hardships. In the same vein, he could have written more about Brown vs. Board of Education, especially since he was a clerk at the Court at least part of the time during which the case was considered: In particular, the story of the rather remarkable feat that resulted in an unanimous decision, and also the events leading up to that decision, especially those efforts to right wrongs after the Civil War. He may have made good points about the Radical Republicans overstepping their bounds but there were also other things going on at the time.
Whatever side of the ideological fence you may be on, I think that Bernard Schwartz's book HISTORY OF THE SUPREME COURT gives a broader and easier to grasp view of Supreme Court history that includes more about constitutional trends and is less bogged down in dry detail even though it no doubt offers more.
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