Lucas A

2009 · rif. 68516 — Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press 2009. Presumed first edition/first printing. Hardcover. Very good in very good dust jacket. Signed by author. Inscribed on title page to Amanda Wise. Glued binding. Paper over boards. x 421 1 p. Chronology. Notes. Selected Bibliography. Index of Cases. General Index. 'The Supreme Court follows the election returns' the fictional Mr. Dooley observed a hundred years ago. And for all our ideals and dreams of a disinterested judiciary above the political fray it seems Mr. Dooley was right. In this engaging-and disturbing-book a leading historian of the Court reveals the close fit between its decisions and the nation's politics. The story begins with the creation of the Constitution and ends with the June 2008 decisions on the rights of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Rendering crisp and often controversial judgments on key decisions from Marbury v. Madison to the War on Terror Lucas Powe shows how virtually every major Supreme Court ruling however deftly framed in constitutional terms suited the wishes of the most powerful politicians of the time. This history reflects a changing Court from the country's early struggles over commerce and transportation to the torturous justifications of slavery before the Civil War to a post-New Deal interest in ending segregation controlling criminal procedure and addressing knotty questions arising from the Cold War. Through all of this the Court emerges as part of a ruling regime doing its best to implement the regime's policies. Drawing on more than four decades of thinking about the Supreme Court and its role in the American political system this book offers a new clear and troubling perspective on American jurisprudence politics and history. From an on-line posting: "A leading historian of the Supreme Court Professor Powe clerked for Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas before joining the Texas faculty in 1971. His latest book is The Supreme Court and The American Elite 1789-2008 2009. Previously reflecting a split career as a historian and a First Amendment scholar especially of the electronic media his three award-winning books were American Broadcasting and the First Amendment California 1987 The Fourth Estate and the Constitution California 1991 and The Warren Court and American Politics Harvard 2000. Additionally he has co-authored Regulating Broadcast Programming MIT 1994 and written scores of articles. Powe was also a principal commentator on the 2007 four-part PBS series "The Supreme Court." He is also a Professor of Government and has been a visiting professor at Berkeley Connecticut and Georgetown." From an on-line posting perhaps this is the Amanda Wise to whom the work is inscribed: "Amanda Wise is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Macquarie University. Amanda came to Macquarie in 2004 and was appointed Senior Research Fellow under the Concentrations of Research Excellence Social Inclusion CORE scheme in 2007. She joined the department of Sociology in 2012. Her research into issues surrounding global cities multiculturalism and migration draws primarily on ethnographic and qualitative methodologies. While based in sociology her interdisciplinary research often draws on approaches from anthropology cultural studies human geography and related disciplines. Amanda's research interests include materialities civilities and sensibilities of urban life; global cities and diversity; multiculturalism especially 'everyday multiculturalism' in Australia and Singapore; racism and interethnic relations; national and cultural identities; cultural attachments to and formations of place especially in relation to multicultural cities; diasporic transnational and migrant communities; theorisations of work and transnational labour; and experiences of low wage migrant labourers in Australia and Asia. She has held a number of large Australian Research Council Grants and has extensive experience in advising and undertaking commissioned research for government on issues of diversity and strategies to tackle racism. Amanda has supervised numerous PhD projects on topics surrounding everyday multiculturalism transnational and diasporic communities global cities and migrant settlement. " Harvard University Press hardcover