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Loading... The Supreme Courtby William H. Rehnquist
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. 2500 The Supreme Court: How It Was, How It Is, by William H. Rehnquist (read 14 Mar 1993) This is written for non-lawyers, but I found it worthwhile reading. Rehnquist tells how he came to be a law clerk for Justice Jackson, spends a couple chapters on the Steel Seizure case--the big case decided during his clerkship--talks about Marbury v. Madison, the John Marshall court, the Taney court, a few justices in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the court packing plan of 1937, and how the Supreme Court works today. I agreed with most of what he said. (  ) Schmerguls | Apr 22, 2008 |  This book starts as a history of the Supreme Court, emphasising the legal history and political influences on the Court, then gradually becomes a memoir of Rehnquist's service as first, a clerk to Justice Jackson, then of his service on the Court. The first (and larger) part would make an admirable textbook on the history of the Court for use in a high school or college level American Government class. The second part would make an interesting book on its own, as Rehnquist includes a good deal of information on the day-to-day workings of the Court, and how that's changed over time, as well as some character sketches of the Justices who served after World War 2, but retired or died before about 1980. There's no juicy gossip - Rehnquist tries rather hard to be positive about everyone he discusses. Rehnquist's writing is clear and relatively concise. He's not a literary stylist, but in a book like this, the writing should take a back seat to the stories being told. ( )1  argyriou | Apr 19, 2006 |  no reviews | add a review
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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
(retrieved from Amazon Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:57:23 -0500)
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