Presidents and their Justices

by Douglas Clouatre

Overview

Presidents and their Justices offers an innovative look at the relationship between a president and the Supreme Court justices they appoint. Based on a 2005 survey of historians, lawyers, and political scientists that ranked presidents according to their Supreme Court appointments, the ratings offer a distinctive analysis of the relationship between presidents and the justices they appointed. Among these were Herbert Hoover, as the fifth-ranked president based on the Court nominees and Harry Truman, as one of the worst twentieth-century presidents for the justices he appointed.
The book delves into presidential Court appointments and how a justice's career affects a president's legacy. Among the presidents studied are Warren Harding, Ulysses Grant, John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Franklin Roosevelt. The work is divided into sections of great presidents who made successful appointments, great presidents who failed in their appointments, and mediocre presidents who made successful appointments.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761853732
Publisher:	University Press of America
Publication date:	09/28/2010
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	284
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Douglas Clouatre is a political science and history instructor at Mid Plains Community College who writes on the Supreme Court and the American presidency. His works include contributions to The Leviathan's Choice, a reader on the death penalty, an American Government textbook and Gale's Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court.

Table of Contents

Introduction v

Section 1 Great Presidents, Great Justices

Chapter 1 Presidential and Judicial Rankings past and present 3

Chapter 2 George Washington, Franklin Roosevelt 17

Chapter 3 Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan 55

Chapter 4 Woodrow Wilson, Dwight Eisenhower 93

Section 2 Successful Failures: Great Presidents Who Failed at Their Judicial Nominations

Chapter 5 Andrew Jackson, Harry Truman 123

Chapter 6 James Polk, William McKinley 151

Chapter 7 Thomas Jefferson, John Kennedy 163

Section 3 Failed Successes: Failed Presidents Choose Great Justices

Chapter 8 John Adams, James Madison 179

Chapter 9 Rutherford Hayes, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover 195

Chapter 10 Ulysses Grant, Warren Harding 215

Chapter 11 William Howard Taft, Richard Nixon 239

Name Index 267

Supreme Court Case Index 273