A History of the Supreme Court

Constitution scholar Schwartz ( Super Chief: Earl Warren and His Supreme Court ) provides a thorough, balanced and readable chronological overview of the highest court in the land. He mixes biographical sketches of justices like John Marshall with insightful analyses of major decisions, offering also a close look at four watershed cases, e.g., those regarding desegregation and abortion. Schwartz's account of the modern court, especially that headed by Warren, is lively and savvy, with a moderate-liberal slant. His history of the earlier court is less journalistic; nevertheless, he shows how the court slowly grew in role and stature, and how its decisions contributed vitally to an expanding federal economy and the rise of corporations. While Schwartz at times judiciously reevaluates scholarly controversies--such as his upgrade of long-denounced Dred Scott jurist Roger Taney--he skirts such issues as the growing argument that the right to abortion should be based on equal protection rather than privacy rights. (Sept.)