United States, Courts, Legal History, Supreme Court, American Supreme Court 

"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." - Voila 

Content:
Legislature is entitled to all the deference that is due the judiciary : Marbury v. Madison, 1803 / John Bannister Gibson -- Experience should teach us wisdom : McCulloch v. Maryland, 1819 / Andrew Jackson -- Among those for whom and whose posterity the Constitution was ordained and established : Dred Scott v. Sanford, 1857 / Benjamin R. Curtis -- To enable the black race to take the rank of mere citizens : the Civil Rights Cases, 1883 ; There is no caste here : Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896 / John Marshall Harlan -- Room for debate and for an honest difference of opinion : Lochner v. New York, 1905 / John Marshall Harlan, Oliver Wendell Holmes -- Men feared witches and burned women : Whitney v. California, 1927 / Louis D. Brandeis -- Almost anything-- marriage, birth, death-- may in some fashion affect commerce : National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., 1937 / James McReynolds -- Ugly abyss of racism : Korematsu v. United States, 1944 / Frank Murphy, Robert H. Jackson -- Refrain from invidious discriminations : Goesaert v. Cleary, 1948 / Wiley Rutledge -- Our decision does not end but begins the struggle over segregation : Brown v. Board of Education, 1954 / Robert H. Jackson -- To attribute, however flatteringly, omnicompetence to judges : Baker v. Carr, 1962 / Felix Frankfurter, John Marshall Harlan -- Sterile metaphor which by its very nature may distort rather than illumine the problems : Abington School District v. Schempp, 1963 / Potter Stewart -- I get nowhere in this case by talk about a constitutional 'right of privacy' : Griswold v. Connecticut, 1965 / Hugo L. Black, Potter Stewart -- That is what this suit is about. Power : Morrison v. Olson, 1988 ; Do not believe it : Lawrence v. Texas, 2003 / Antonin Scalia. 

Includes bibliographical references (225)
Donated by Graham Price.
Item catalogued by editor (Tushnet, Mark)