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"Few American institutions have inflicted greater suffering on ordinary people than the Supreme Court of the United States. In this powerful indictment of a venerated institution, constitutional law expert Ian Millhiser tells the history of the Supreme Court through the eyes of everyday people who have suffered the most as a result of its judgements. The justices built a nation where children toiled in coal mines and cotton mills, where Americans could be forced into camps because of their race, and where women were sterilized at the command of states. The Court was the midwife of Jim Crow, the right hand of union busters, and the dead hand of the Confederacy. Nor is the modern Court a vast improvement, with its incursions on voting rights, its willingness to place elections for sale, and its growing skepticism towards the democratic process generally. America ratified three constitutional amendments to provide equal rights to freed slaves, but the justices spent 30 years largely dismantling these amendments. Then they spent the next 40 years rewriting them into a shield for the wealthy and the powerful. Similarly, the recent, nearly successful legal attack on Obamacare was in the spirit of early twentieth century decisions like Lochner v. New York and Hammer v. Dagenhart that treated the American people's right to govern themselves with great skepticism. Recently, cases like Citizens United allowed rivers of money to flood our democracy; and Shelby County tore out the heart of American voting rights law. These cases are hardly anomalies; they fit a pattern of justices placing powerful interests above the welfare of the general public. In the Warren Era and the few years following it, progressive justices restored the Constitution's promises of equality, free speech, and fair justice for the accused. But this era, Millhiser contends, was an historic accident. Indeed, if it wasn't for a several unpredictable events-such as a former Ku Klux Klansman's decision to become a passionate supporter of racial justice, or a fatal heart attack that killed the Chief Justice of the United States-Brown v. Board of Education could have gone the other way In this book, Millhiser argues the Supreme Court does not deserve the respect it commands. To the contrary, it routinely bent the arc of American history away from justice"--
"Constitutional law expert Ian Millhiser tells the history of the Supreme Court through the eyes of everyday people who have suffered the most as a result of its judgements. The justices built a nation where children toiled in coal mines and cotton mills, where Americans could be forced into camps because of their race, and where women were sterilized at the command of states. The Court was the midwife of Jim Crow, the right hand of union busters, and the dead hand of the Confederacy. Nor is the modern Court a vast improvement, with its incursions on voting rights, its willingness to place elections for sale, and its growing skepticism towards the democratic process generally. In this book, Millhiser argues the Supreme Court does not deserve the respect it commands. To the contrary, it routinely bent the arc of American history away from justice"--… (más)
Hard to listen to some of the inanity displayed by the justices but, wow, what an interesting story. Fascinating book. Absolutely highly recommend! Even though the recent court cases were better described that the historical ones, it's the historical cases that really make the book stellar. So many interesting views, such partisanship... such idiocy. There are so many things that I could have done with my life and being a judge would have been fascinating but what an incredibly frustrating job that must be. It's one thing to stand by and watch your colleagues do idiotic things - many of us have to do that on a near daily basis, but to watch your colleagues display such idiocy and then change the course of the United States because they believe in some god and devil or other crazy things... wow, just wow.
HIGHLY RECOMMEND (if you can tolerate frustration) ( )
5357, Injustices The Supreme Court's History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted, by Ian Millhiser (read 9 Mar 2016) This 2015 book is a study of Supreme Court history since the Civil War, setting out the sad story of how the Supreme Court misinterpreted the Civil War amendments and thus permitted Southern blacks to be denied the rights they should have had for almost a century. The book also shows other cases badly decided by the Court, including Lochner, Buck v. Bell,, and the ignoring of the First Amendment in cases arising during World War One. It likewise covers the sorry role of the anti-New Deal justices and the mistaken effort to expand the Court instead of being a bit more patient. And the book does justice to the good work of Earl Warren in getting a unanimous decision against school segregation. and other Warren Court advances. And the author shows how close the Court came to scuttling the Affordable Care Act. All in all, the book shows good things and bad things the Supreme Court has done in the past 150 years. ( )
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
The generally accepted notion that the court can only hear roughly 150 cases each term gives the same sense of reassurance as the adjournment of the court in July, when we know the Constitution is safe for the summer. - Future Chief Justice John Roberts, April 19, 1983
Dedicatoria
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
For Earl, Thurgood, and Ruth, who proved that it does not have to be this way.
Primeras palabras
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
[Introduction] On a porch in Colfax, Louisiana, eight wounded men lay shielded from the rain.
The battle to reshape the Fourteenth Amendment did not begin in Colfax.
Citas
Últimas palabras
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
Why would we trade a system that served us so well for one that served our great-grandparents so poorly?
"Few American institutions have inflicted greater suffering on ordinary people than the Supreme Court of the United States. In this powerful indictment of a venerated institution, constitutional law expert Ian Millhiser tells the history of the Supreme Court through the eyes of everyday people who have suffered the most as a result of its judgements. The justices built a nation where children toiled in coal mines and cotton mills, where Americans could be forced into camps because of their race, and where women were sterilized at the command of states. The Court was the midwife of Jim Crow, the right hand of union busters, and the dead hand of the Confederacy. Nor is the modern Court a vast improvement, with its incursions on voting rights, its willingness to place elections for sale, and its growing skepticism towards the democratic process generally. America ratified three constitutional amendments to provide equal rights to freed slaves, but the justices spent 30 years largely dismantling these amendments. Then they spent the next 40 years rewriting them into a shield for the wealthy and the powerful. Similarly, the recent, nearly successful legal attack on Obamacare was in the spirit of early twentieth century decisions like Lochner v. New York and Hammer v. Dagenhart that treated the American people's right to govern themselves with great skepticism. Recently, cases like Citizens United allowed rivers of money to flood our democracy; and Shelby County tore out the heart of American voting rights law. These cases are hardly anomalies; they fit a pattern of justices placing powerful interests above the welfare of the general public. In the Warren Era and the few years following it, progressive justices restored the Constitution's promises of equality, free speech, and fair justice for the accused. But this era, Millhiser contends, was an historic accident. Indeed, if it wasn't for a several unpredictable events-such as a former Ku Klux Klansman's decision to become a passionate supporter of racial justice, or a fatal heart attack that killed the Chief Justice of the United States-Brown v. Board of Education could have gone the other way In this book, Millhiser argues the Supreme Court does not deserve the respect it commands. To the contrary, it routinely bent the arc of American history away from justice"--
"Constitutional law expert Ian Millhiser tells the history of the Supreme Court through the eyes of everyday people who have suffered the most as a result of its judgements. The justices built a nation where children toiled in coal mines and cotton mills, where Americans could be forced into camps because of their race, and where women were sterilized at the command of states. The Court was the midwife of Jim Crow, the right hand of union busters, and the dead hand of the Confederacy. Nor is the modern Court a vast improvement, with its incursions on voting rights, its willingness to place elections for sale, and its growing skepticism towards the democratic process generally. In this book, Millhiser argues the Supreme Court does not deserve the respect it commands. To the contrary, it routinely bent the arc of American history away from justice"--
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HIGHLY RECOMMEND (if you can tolerate frustration) (