Storm Center: The Supreme Court in American Politics - Softcover

O'Brien, David M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393974928 ISBN 13: 9780393974928

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, Incorporated, 1999

Synopsis

For your courses on judicial process, the Supreme Court, constitutional law, and American government... With the retirements of several liberal justices, the Supreme Court has taken historic steps under the leadership of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. This new edition takes account of these significant changes and how they affect the Court and American society. David M. O'Brien again shows students how the Supreme Court is a "storm center" of political controversy--"the least dangerous branch" of government where personality, politics, law, and justice come together to shape and often change drastically the society in which they live.

About this title

About the Author:

David M. O'Brien is professor in the Woodrow Wilson Department of Government and Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia. He is also the author of the two-volume paperback, Constitutional Law and Politics, Second Edition (Norton), and the annual Supreme Court Watch (Norton). Professor O'Brien is at work on a book on civil liberties.

From Library Journal:

With the abortion and school desegregation decisions, O'Brien contends, the Supreme Court has ceased to be Hamilton's "least dangerous branch." Increasingly activist, it has in fact become a "storm center" of national politics. Ever mindful of our judicial past, O'Brien likewise finds the Court is markedly more bureaucratic. His lucid text descibes the inner rules and proceduresthe cost of filings, screening procedures, certiorari petitions, the justices' give-and-take negotiations, their tentative votes and maneuverings, the oral arguments, the growing number of dissents and plurality opinions. O'Brien finds the Court rife with heated personal clashes. Rather than above the battle, it is highly sensitive to external pressures, from the President, Congress, public opinion. This is an illuminating, first-rate primer for those seeking to understand the workings of the Court. Milton Cantor, History Dept., Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, Incorporated
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0393974928
• ISBN 13: 9780393974928
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 5
• Number of pages: 446