The Most Powerful Court in the World: A History of the Supreme Court of the United States

by Stuart Banner

Overview

An authoritative, even-handed, and accessible history of the Supreme Court of the United States, the most powerful court in the world and the final arbiter of the world's oldest constitution.

Will abortion be legal? Should people of the same sex be allowed to marry? May colleges prefer black applicants over white ones? These are among the most bitterly contested issues in the United States today. We answer these questions, and many more, by presenting them to nine lawyers—the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. No other nation commits so many important questions to its highest court.

Stuart Banner's The Most Powerful Court in the World is an authoritative history of the United States Supreme Court from the Founding era to the present. Not merely a history of the Court's opinions and jurisprudence, it is also a rich account of the Court in the broadest sense—of the sorts of people who become justices and the methods by which they are chosen, of how the Court does its work, and of its relationship with other branches of government. It is about how the Court acquired so much power, how it has retained its power in the face of repeated challenges and criticisms, and what it has done with its power over the years. Rather than praising or criticizing the Court's decisions, Banner makes the case that one cannot fully understand the decisions without knowing about the institution that produced them.

Offering a fresh analytical window into today's contentious debates about the Court—debates that often rest on dubious ideas about the Court's history—The Most Powerful Court in the World helps readers see cases through the justices' eyes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780197780350
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	11/04/2024
Pages:	672
Sales rank:	670,366
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.80(d)

About the Author

Stuart Banner is the Norman Abrams Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of several books about the history of the American legal system, including How the Indians Lost Their Land; The Death Penalty; The Decline of Natural Law; Speculation; The Baseball Trust; and American Property.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Establishing the Court

2. Itinerant Judges on a Part-time Court

3. Federal and State Power

4. Slaves and Indians

5. The Court and the Civil War

6. Life at the Court, 1870-1930

7. The Jim Crow Court

8. The Lochner Era

9. The Birth of the Modern Court

10. Court-Packing and Constitutional Change

11. The Justices at War

12. Desegregation

13. The Liberal Court

14. A Partial Counterrevolution

15. New Paths to the Court

16. Back to the Right

Epilogue
Abbreviations
Notes
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Stuart Banner's book is a study of the court that situates this institution firmly in both its social and human context. It is also, in my opinion, the most interesting, the most readable, and the most insightful history of the court yet produced. Congratulations goes to Stuart Banner for this tremendous achievement." — Lawrence Friedman, Marion Rice Kirkwood Professor of Law, Emeritus, Stanford Law School

"This masterful synthesis manages to be at once erudite, engrossing, enlightening, and entertaining. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of the Court and its relationship to American society and politics." — Laura Kalman, Distinguished Research Professor of History, University of California, Santa Barbara

"Banner's The Most Powerful Court in the World is a fabulous read for anyone interested in the Supreme Court, whether a nonlawyer, U.S. history buff, law student, or seasoned Supreme Court advocate. Strikingly lucid, always engaging, and remarkably balanced, Banner's account demolishes long-held misconceptions about the Court, reveals the deep historical roots of present-day accusations of the Court's politicization, and enriches the reader with a cornucopia of long forgotten and newly unearthed, eye-popping facts" — Richard Lazarus, Charles Stebbins Fairchild Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

"Stuart Banner has written the best one-volume history of the Supreme Court now available. One reason is its inclusion of recent decisions of the Supreme Court among the rich array of cases that he incisively assesses. But at least as important is his rich historical analysis of the Court as an institution within the complex matrix of the American political system. I have been teaching about the Supreme Court for half a century, and I am embarrassed to admit how much I learned while reading Banner. Scholars and general readers alike should both enjoy and learn from this rich and well-written book." — Sanford Levinson, W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law, University of Texas Law School

"STARRED REVIEW: Accessible, intelligent, and colorful ... With clear-minded authority, Banner tells the story of a crucial, but misunderstood, part of the constitutional structure." — Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

★ 2024-06-28
The fiery language directed at SCOTUS obscures a fascinating, complex story, says this engaging book.

The past decade has seen waves of vitriol directed at the Supreme Court from one side or another, so it is refreshing to find a book that sets out the institution’s history without histrionics. Banner is a distinguished legal academic who has written a series of interesting books, includingHow the Indians Lost Their Land,The Death Penalty, andThe Decline of Natural Law, and his intention here is to explain how the Court has operated since its founding. A point that is often missed is that the Court focuses on appeals, judicial review, and technical issues of law. It can, if it chooses, hear cases where the facts are in dispute, but those are unusual. It is often seen as leaning toward the conservative side of the spectrum, but in the 1960s and 1970s it was certainly of a liberal bent. Critics often claimed, then, that in decisions likeMiranda,Brown, andRoe, it was ignoring public opinion, going beyond its constitutional role, and creating disruption. When the Court became more conservative, its previous supporters and opponents switched sides and arguments, apparently without a hint of irony. Banner lays out the reasoning in recent cases likeDobbs but is scrupulously evenhanded, offering no opinion about the legal merits of either the decision or the dissent. He notes that calls for changing the Court to affect decisions, such as by increasing the number of judges, are not new but have never received much support. For its part, the Court often shows a surprising independent streak. Banner avoids jargon wherever possible, and the result is a book that is accessible, intelligent, and colorful.

With clear-minded authority, Banner tells the story of a crucial, but misunderstood, part of the constitutional structure.

Kirkus Reviews