The Supreme Court The Personalities and Rivalries That Defined America [Paperback]

Superbly well written . . . a wonderfully informative guide to the Supreme Court both past and present. David J. Garrow,American History

Jeffrey Rosen recounts the history of the Supreme Court through the personal and philosophical rivalries that have transformed the lawand by extension, our lives. With studies of four crucial conflictsChief Justice John Marshall and President Thomas Jefferson; postCivil War justices John Marshall Harlan and Oliver Wendell Holmes; liberal icons Hugo Black and William O. Douglas; and conservative stalwarts William H. Rehnquist and Antonin ScaliaRosen brings vividly to life the perennial rivalry between those justices guided by strong ideology and those who cared more about the court as an institution, forging coalitions and adjusting to new realities. He ends with a revealing conversation with Chief Justice John Roberts, who is attempting to change the court in unexpected ways. The stakes, he shows, are nothing less than the future of American jurisprudence.

Jeffrey Rosenis a professor of law at George Washington University and the legal affairs editor ofThe New Republic. He is the author ofThe Most Democratic Branch,The Naked Crowd, andThe Unwanted Gaze. His articles have appeared in many publications, includingThe New York Times Magazine,The Atlantic Monthly, andThe New Yorker. He is a frequent contributor to National Public Radio and lives in Washington, D.C.