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  • Published: 1 March 2016
  • ISBN: 9780143128007
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $40.00

The Case Against the Supreme Court



A hard-hitting analysis of the Supreme Court over the last 200 years by a preeminent constitutional scholar and practitioner

Both historically and in the present, the Supreme Court has largely been a failure
 
In this devastating book, Erwin Chemerinsky—“one of the shining lights of legal academia” (The New York Times)—shows how, case by case, for over two centuries, the hallowed Court has been far more likely to uphold government abuses of power than to stop them. Drawing on a wealth of rulings, some famous, others little known, he reviews the Supreme Court’s historic failures in key areas, including the refusal to protect minorities, the upholding of gender discrimination, and the neglect of the Constitution in times of crisis, from World War I through 9/11.

No one is better suited to make this case than Chemerinsky. He has studied, taught, and practiced constitutional law for thirty years and has argued before the Supreme Court. With passion and eloquence, Chemerinsky advocates reforms that could make the system work better, and he challenges us to think more critically about the nature of the Court and the fallible men and women who sit on it.

  • Published: 1 March 2016
  • ISBN: 9780143128007
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $40.00

Praise for The Case Against the Supreme Court

Praise for The Case Against the Supreme Court
"Chemerinsky is a superb litigator, a prominent scholar, and a beloved teacher, and all three sets of skills are on display here. The Case Against the Supreme Court is unfailingly lucid and, among other things, a good primer on the history of constitutional law."--Jedediah Purdy, BookForum

"The Case Against the Supreme Court is no partisan screed, rather a warning to thinking persons (lawyers or non-lawyers). In reading this book, everyone will hear the canary in the mineshaft. We ignore it at our peril."--John W. Dean, Verdict