Supremely Partisan: How Raw Politics Tips the Scales in the United States Supreme Court
On the eve of a presidential election that may determine the makeup of Supreme Court justices for decades to come, prominent attorney James D. Zirin argues that the Court has become increasingly partisan, rapidly making policy choices right and left on bases that have nothing to do with law or the Constitution. Zirin explains how we arrived at the present situation and looks at the current divide through its leading partisans, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor on the left and Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas on the right. He also examines four of the Court’s most controversial recent decisions – Hobby Lobby, Obamacare, gay marriage, and capital punishment – arguing that these politicized decisions threaten to undermine public confidence in the Supreme Court.
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Supremely Partisan: How Raw Politics Tips the Scales in the United States Supreme Court
On the eve of a presidential election that may determine the makeup of Supreme Court justices for decades to come, prominent attorney James D. Zirin argues that the Court has become increasingly partisan, rapidly making policy choices right and left on bases that have nothing to do with law or the Constitution. Zirin explains how we arrived at the present situation and looks at the current divide through its leading partisans, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor on the left and Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas on the right. He also examines four of the Court’s most controversial recent decisions – Hobby Lobby, Obamacare, gay marriage, and capital punishment – arguing that these politicized decisions threaten to undermine public confidence in the Supreme Court.
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Supremely Partisan: How Raw Politics Tips the Scales in the United States Supreme Court
On the eve of a presidential election that may determine the makeup of Supreme Court justices for decades to come, prominent attorney James D. Zirin argues that the Court has become increasingly partisan, rapidly making policy choices right and left on bases that have nothing to do with law or the Constitution. Zirin explains how we arrived at the present situation and looks at the current divide through its leading partisans, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor on the left and Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas on the right. He also examines four of the Court’s most controversial recent decisions – Hobby Lobby, Obamacare, gay marriage, and capital punishment – arguing that these politicized decisions threaten to undermine public confidence in the Supreme Court.
James D. Zirin is a leading litigator in federal and state courts around the nation, the host of the critically acclaimed television talk show, “Conversations in the Digital Age,” and is the author of the best-selling book, published in 2014, The Mother Court—Tales of Cases That Mattered in America’s Greatest Trial Court. A graduate of Princeton University with honors, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the office of Robert M. Morgenthau, and has written hundreds of op-ed articles on subjects ranging from law to foreign relations.
Table of Contents
Foreword Introduction 1 What the Supreme Court Is Supposed (and Not Supposed) to Do 2 Identity Politics and the Partisan Court 3 Religion and the Partisan Court 4 Two of the Eighty-Nine WASP Male Justices: Marshall and Holmes John Marshall—Elaborating the Rule of Law Oliver Wendell Holmes—Elaborating the Rules for Free Speech Campaign Finance and Deregulation—Speech Unknown to Marshall and Holmes 5 The Catholic Seat 6 The Jewish Seat: Tradition, Tradition! 7 And Goldberg Begat Fortas: End of the Jewish Seat 8 The Supreme Court Tackles the Middle East: Is Jerusalem Part of Israel? 9 The Female Seat and Ruth Bader Ginsburg 10 The Black Seat: Finding The “Best Qualified” Thomas and Natural Law Thomas and the Voting Rights Act Thomas and Affirmative Action 11 Antonin Scalia (1936–2016): “More Catholic Than the Pope” 12 Sonia Sotomayor: The Wise Latina Woman and Identity Politics 13 Hobby Lobby: Religious Freedom v. Reproductive Rights 14 The Obamacare Cases: The Chief Rides to the Rescue 15 Gay Marriage: “The Times They Are A-Changin’” 16 Capital Punishment: Death Is Different Conclusion Acknowledgments Index About the Author
