A People’s History of the Supreme Court

Description

In the tradition of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, Irons (political science, U. of California-San Diego looks at the US Supreme Court from the perspective of the people whose legal grievances led to landmark decisions. He takes a sample of 85 cases ranging from the Constitutional Convention in 1787 to recent rulings on free speech, racial segregation, abortion, and gay rights, setting them in the social, economic, and cultural context of the time. Cover......Page 1 Copyright......Page 5 Foreword......Page 6 Contents......Page 9 Introduction......Page 14 Section I: "To Establish a More Perfect Union"......Page 20 1. "Morally Sinful by the Word of God"......Page 22 2. "The Exigencies of the Union"......Page 36 3. "Dishonorable to the National Character"......Page 46 4. "The Supreme Law of the Land"......Page 55 5. "The Country Must Finally Decide"......Page 67 6. "The Plot Thickens Fast"......Page 78 7. "The Nauseous Project of Amendments"......Page 88 Section II: "It Is a Constitution We Are Expounding''......Page 102 8. "The Court Is Now Sitting"......Page 104 9. "To Say What the Law Is"......Page 115 10. "These Jarring and Discordant Judgments"......Page 127 11. "The Good and the Wise"......Page 140 12. "Great, Good, and Excellent Man!"......Page 156 Section III: "Justly and Lawfully Be Reduced to Slavery"......Page 174 13. ''A Small, Pleasant-Looking Negro"......Page 176 14. "Beings of an Inferior Order"......Page 187 15. ''Another Explosion Will Soon Come"......Page 198 16. ''A Higher Law Than the Constitution"......Page 209 17. "An Evil Eye and an Unequal Hand"......Page 225 18. "Our Constitution Is Color-Blind"......Page 240 Section IV: "Liberty in a Social Organization"......Page 252 19. "The Spectre of Socialism"......Page 254 20. "The Work Was Light and Healthful"......Page 267 21. "Falsely Shouting Fire in a Theatre"......Page 284 22. "Every Idea Is an Incitement"......Page 301 23. "The General Welfare of the United States"......Page 313 24. "To Save the Constitution from the Court"......Page 326 25. "Hughes Thundered Out the Decision"......Page 337 Section V: "Beyond the Reach of Majorities"......Page 350 26. "We Live by Symbols"......Page 352 27. ''A Jap's a Jap"......Page 367 28. "My Little Soul Is Overjoyed"......Page 384 29. "Give Me the Colored Doll"......Page 402 30. "War on the Constitution"......Page 414 31. ''A Better Place Because He Lived"......Page 428 Section VI: "A Right of Personal Privacy"......Page 440 32. "You've Been Taking Pure Thalidomide"......Page 442 33. "The Raw Edges of Human Existence"......Page 455 34. "Truly a Pandora's Box"......Page 469 35. "I Fear for the Future"......Page 483 Epilogue: "How To Treat Other People"......Page 500 United States Constitution......Page 504 The Justices Of The Supreme Court......Page 521 Notes......Page 526 Sources For Further Reading......Page 545 Index......Page 550 Back Cover......Page 562