I dissent : great opposing opinions in landmark Supreme Court cases
American history can be traced in part through the words of the majority decisions in landmark Supreme Court cases. Now, for the first time, one of the most distinguished Supreme Court scholars has gathered famous dissents as he considers a provocative question: how might our history appear now if these cases in the highest court in the country had turned out differently? The surprising answer Tushnet offers: not all that different. Tushnet introduces and explains sixteen influential cases from throughout the Court's history, putting them into political context and offering a sense of what could have developed if the dissents were instead the majority opinions. Ultimately, Tushnet demonstrates that the words of Supreme Court justices are only one piece of a larger puzzle that defines what the Constitution means to us. We should not value their opinions over other pieces, such as social movements, politics, economics, and more. Written in accessible and lively language, edited with a lay readership in mind, I Dissent offers an invaluable collection for anyone interested in American history and how we define constitutional rights. By placing the Supreme Court back into the framework of the government rather than viewing it as a near-sacred body issuing final decisions that cannot be questioned, Tushnet provides a radically fresh view of the judiciary and a new approach to reading the overlooked writings of major contentious figures from throughout American history
Cases
xxvi, 229 pages ; 22 cm
9780807000366, 0807000361
162126945
I Dissent
Great Opposing Opinions in Landmark Supreme Court CasesBEACON PRESS
Copyright © 2008 Mark TushnetAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8070-0036-6
Contents
INTRODUCTION: Why Dissent?...................................................................................................1CHAPTER 1: "The legislature is entitled to all the deference that is due the judiciary."Marbury v. Madison, 1803 Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice John Bannister Gibson............................................17CHAPTER 2: "Experience should teach us wisdom."McCulloch v. Maryland, 1819 President Andrew Jackson.........................................................................31CHAPTER 3: "Among those for whom and whose posterity the Constitution was ordained and established."Dred Scott v. Sanford, 1857 Justice Benjamin R. Curtis.......................................................................45CHARTER 4: "To enable the black race to take the rank of mere citizens."The Civil Rights Cases, 1883 Justice John Marshall Harlan....................................................................69CHARTER 5: "There is no caste here."Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896 Justice John Marshall Harlan........................................................................81CHAPTER 6: "Room for debate and for an honest difference of opinion."Lochner v. New York, 1905 Justice John Marshall Harlan Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes.........................................93CHAPTER 7: "Men feared witches and burned women."Whitney v. California, 1927 Justice Louis D. Brandeis........................................................................101CHAPTER 8: "Almost anything-marriage, birth, death-may in some fashion affect commerce."National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., 1937 Justice James McReynolds................................113CHAPTER 9: "The ugly abyss of racism."Korematsu v. United States, 1944 Justice Frank Murphy Justice Robert H. Jackson..............................................127CHAPTER 10: "Refrain from invidious discriminations."Goesaert v. Cleary, 1948 Justice Wiley Rutledge..............................................................................133CHAPTER 11: "Our decision does not end but begins the struggle over segregation."Brown v, Board of Education, 1954 Justice Robert H. Jackson..................................................................151CHAPTER 12: "To attribute, however flatteringly, omnicompetence to judges."Baker v. Carr, 1962 Justice Felix Frankfurter Justice John Marshall Harlan...................................................167CHAPTER 13: "A sterile metaphor which by its very nature may distort rather than illumine the problems."Abington School District v. Schempp, 1963 Justice Potter Stewart.............................................................179CHAPTER 14: "I get nowhere in this case by talk about a constitutional 'right of privacy.'"Griswold v. Connecticut, 1965 Justice Hugo L. Black Justice Potter Stewart...................................................191CHAPTER 15: "That is what this suit is about. Power."Morrison v. Olson, 1988 Justice Antonin Scalia...............................................................................211CHAPTER 16: "Do not believe it."Lawrence v. Texas, 2003 Justice Antonin Scalia...............................................................................221CONCLUSION...................................................................................................................225SOURCES AND ADDITIONAL READINGS
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