The Dirty Dozen: How Twelve Supreme Court Cases Radically Expanded Government and Eroded Freedom

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The Dirty Dozen: How Twelve Supreme Court Cases Radically Expanded Government and Eroded Freedom

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Overview

The Founding Fathers wanted the judicial branch to serve as a check on the power of the legislative and executive, and gave the Supreme Court the responsibility of interpreting the Constitution in a way that would safeguard individual freedoms. Sadly, the Supreme Court has handed down many destructive decisions on cases you probably never learned about in school. In The Dirty Dozen, two distinguished legal scholars shed light on the twelve worst cases, which allowed government to interfere in your private contractual agreements; curtail your rights to criticize or support political candidates; arrest and imprison you indefinitely, without filing charges; seize your private property, without compensation, when someone uses the property for criminal activity—even if you don't know about it!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781935308270
Publisher:	Cato Institute
Publication date:	02/16/2010
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Robert A. Levy is senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute. He has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and many other publications. William Mellor is the president and general counsel of the Institute for Justice. He litigates constitutional cases involving economic liberty, property rights, school choice, and free speech.

Foreword   Richard A. Epstein     xiii
Introduction     1
Expanding Government
Promoting the General Welfare     19
The Dirty Dozen List: Helvering v. Davis (1937)
Dishonorable Mention: United States v. Butler (1936)
Regulating Interstate Commerce     37
The Dirty Dozen List: Wickard v. Filburn (1942)
Dishonorable Mention: Gonzales v. Raich (2005)
Rescinding Private Contracts     50
The Dirty Dozen List: Home Building & Loan Association v. Blaisdell (1934)
Dishonorable Mention: Gold Clause Cases (1935)
Lawmaking by Administrative Agencies     67
The Dirty Dozen List: Whitman v. American Trucking Associations, Inc. (2001)
Eroding Freedom
Campaign Finance Reform and Free Speech     89
The Dirty Dozen List: McConnell v. Federal Election Commission (2003)
Dishonorable Mention: Buckley v. Valeo (1976)
Gun Owners' Rights     107
The Dirty Dozen List: United States v. Miller (1939)
Civil Liberties Versus National Security     127
The Dirty Dozen List: Korematsu v. United States (1944)
Asset Forfeiture Without Due Process     143
The Dirty Dozen List: Bennis v. Michigan (1996)
Eminent Domain for Private Use     155
The Dirty Dozen List: Kelo v. City of New London (2005)
Dishonorable Mention: Berman v. Parker (1954)
Taking Property by Regulation     169
The Dirty Dozen List: Penn Central TransportationCo. v. New York (1978)
Dishonorable Mention: Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc., v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (2002)
Earning an Honest Living     181
The Dirty Dozen List: United States v. Carolene Products (1938)
Dishonorable Mention: Nebbia v. New York (1934)
Equal Protection and Racial Preferences     198
The Dirty Dozen List: Grutter v. Bollinger (2003)
Dishonorable Mention: Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)
Afterword: Judicial Activism and Tomorrow's Supreme Court     215
Roe v. Wade (1973)     225
Bush v. Gore (2000)     229
Acknowledgments     233
The Constitution of the United States of America     235
Table of Cases     255
Notes     261
Index     291

From the B&N Reads Blog

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Editorial Reviews

Many of the most harmful decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court have been subject to sustained attack in separate places. But I am not aware of any volume whose major function is to critique the worst in one place. Into this void step two fearless writers,Bob Levy and Chip Mellor, who through their work have been deeply involved in shaping our legal and political culture.

From the Foreword by Richard A. Epstein

A passionate, thoughtful, provocative, and eminently readable book by two of America's most influential libertarian lawyers and legal thinkers.

Eugene Volokh

An easy read, and a very informative primer on some long-neglected cases. |fLyle Denniston, Scotus Blog

From the Publisher

Levy and Mellor offer fascinating insights on twelve of the most important and controversial cases of our time. Readers will gain new appreciation for the Supreme Court's role in affecting their lives and liberties. With that appreciation will come heightened understanding of the stakes in future Supreme Court nominations.

Nadine Strossen

Cato Institute senior fellow Levy and lawyer Mellor, in this excellent examination of twelve far-reaching Supreme Court cases and their consequences, force readers to question the direction in which the judiciary has led our country over the past century-and possibly their own attitudes toward the federal government. The authors deftly navigate the complicated proceedings without slipping into lawyer-speak, while unapologetically leaning on their libertarian sentiments to color their commentary and analysis. Though the writers defend well their claim that the dozen cases under discussion-with a number of "dishonorable mentions" and an appendix each for Roe v. Wade and Bush v. Gore-have expanded the federal government and eroded civil liberties, one can't help but feel a creeping sense of arrogance when Levy and Mellor assert repeatedly that they know how the Constitution's authors would view the document were they alive today. Still, the authors' canny investigation into the Supreme Court should call into doubt some of the staid political viewpoints readers may have taken too long for granted.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly

Levy (senior fellow, Cato Inst.) and Mellor (president & general counsel, Inst. for Justice), both affiliated with libertarian think tanks, have chosen 12 Supreme Court cases that, in their opinion, severely limited individual rights through the expansion of government. As their introduction makes clear, they are conservatives who favor limited government intervention, and the cases they have chosen reflect their position. The chapters are organized by the constitutional issues raised by each case, such as promoting the general welfare, regulating interstate commerce, and property rights. The authors' critiques of these issues are sure to provoke debate. However, they do examine each case on the basis of legal reasoning and in each chapter lay out the flaws in the Court's thinking that make each decision in their view a "bad" one. These explanations are the strong points of the book. Although some readers will disagree with their viewpoint, Levy and Mellor have done a good job of explaining their thinking. Public libraries may be interested in this book for legal collections, but academic libraries can find other, more scholarly titles.
—Becky Kennedy

Library Journal

Two conservative lawyers register their outrage at the Supreme Court's "back door" expansion of government and erosion of civil rights. Cato Institute scholar Levy and Institute for Justice president (and former Reagan counsel) Mellor unabashedly assert that their interpretation of the Constitution is "committed to the values of individual liberty, private property, and free markets." The dozen cases they examine, in their view, betrayed the principles of the Founding Fathers and vastly enlarged federal power over the course of the 20th century, specifically from the New Deal onward. The book is organized thematically, with four cases grouped under "Expanding Government" and eight under "Eroding Freedom." For each, the authors outline the facts, then offer their explanation of where the courts went wrong and what the implications are. Helvering v. Davis (1937) upheld the legality of the Social Security Act by embracing the "general welfare" clause in the Constitution; the authors call this an authorization to "rob Peter in order to pay Paul." They view Wickard v. Filburn (1942) as a pernicious expansion of the Constitution's Interstate Commerce Clause. Such cases as Whitman v. American Trucking Associations, Inc. (2001), they contend, have fostered the concentration of power in the hands of unelected administrative agencies. The authors deplore the expansive view of eminent domain taken in Kelo v. City of New London (2005), seeing its roots in earlier decisions supporting urban renewal. They scornfully critique the court's upholding of affirmative action in higher education in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), and they also blast the justices for affirming the legality of interningJapanese-Americans during World War II in Korematsu v. United States (1944), a clear violation of civil rights. In every instance, they advocate a narrow view of constitutional restraints, as opposed to a "living Constitution" flexible to changing modern needs. Grating at times, but these sternly libertarian arguments keep the constitutional dialogue lively and accessible.

Kirkus Reviews

The Dirty Dozen: How Twelve Supreme Court Cases Radically Expanded Government and Eroded Freedom

The Dirty Dozen: How Twelve Supreme Court Cases Radically Expanded Government and Eroded Freedom

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