Out today from the W. Hodding Carter III Books imprint of the University of North Carolina Press: The Political Supreme Court: A Forgotten History, by Rachel A. Shelden (Penn State University). A description from the Press:
Today’s Supreme Court justices bristle at the label “politicians in robes,” insisting that they operate above the fray of partisan politics. But for the first century of the nation’s history, the Court was unmistakably a political institution, both by design and in practice. Justices were fully expected to engage in partisan politics—there was no concern that such engagement would lead to corruption or undue bias—and they remained deeply involved in civic debate and the electoral process while on the bench. In addition to hearing cases in the capital, each justice spent much of his time “riding circuit” and presiding over federal trial courts. On circuit and in Washington, nineteenth-century justices wrote for partisan newspapers, drafted legislation, advised partisan allies, campaigned for colleagues, and even ran for political offices from the bench. Through these political interactions, members of the Court helped shape debates about the Constitution’s meaning at a time when most Americans did not believe in judicial supremacy.
In this sweeping history, Rachel A. Shelden, one of America’s leading voices on the history of the Court, brings readers inside the social and political world of its justices, recovering their essential role in the era’s turbulent politics. She also charts shifts at the turn of the twentieth century, when members of the Court and the legal community refashioned the judiciary as an apolitical institution, setting the stage for an increasingly more powerful—and more isolated—modern Court. The Political Supreme Court is required reading for anyone interested in the legal and political underpinnings of today’s judicial power.
A sample of praise from reviewers:
“A deeply researched and highly enjoyable study of how politics kept the early Supreme Court accountable—and the most important historical assessment of the nineteenth-century Court in a very long time.”—Stephen Vladeck
“Rachel Shelden compellingly describes the lively political world that nineteenth-century justices inhabited, one that contrasts sharply with the purported neutrality and isolation that our Supreme Court falsely claims to possess.”—Jack N. Rakove
“This is the single best book I have read on the history of the US Supreme Court. A remarkable achievement.”—Gautham Rao
More information is available here.
-- Karen Tani
