The Most Activist Supreme Court in History: The Road to Modern Judicial Conservatism

by Keck, Thomas Moylan

• ISBN13: 9780226428857
• ISBN10: 0226428850
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-10-01
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

When conservatives took control of the federal judiciary in the 1980s, it was widely assumed that they would reverse the landmark rights-protecting precedents set by the Warren Court and replace them with a broad commitment to judicial restraint. Instead, the Supreme Court under Chief Justice William Rehnquist has reaffirmed most of those liberal decisions while creating its own brand of conservative judicial activism.Ranging from 1937 to the present, The Most Activist Supreme Court in History traces the legal and political forces that have shaped the modern Court. Thomas M. Keck argues that the tensions within modern conservatism have produced a court that exercises its own power quite actively, on behalf of both liberal and conservative ends. Despite the long-standing conservative commitment to restraint, the justices of the Rehnquist Court have stepped in to settle divisive political conflicts over abortion, affirmative action, gay rights, presidential elections, and much more. Keck focuses in particular on the role of Justices O'Connor and Kennedy, whose deciding votes have shaped this uncharacteristically activist Court.

Author Biography

Thomas M. Keck is assistant professor of political science in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	ix
Preface	xi
Introduction: The Supreme Court and Modern Judicial Conservatism	1	(16)
PART I The Roots of Modern Judicial Conservatism, 1937--1969
The New Deal Revolution and the Reconstruction of Constitutional Law, 1937--1949	17	(21)
Frankfurter's Failure: The Rise and Decline of Judicial Self-Restraint, 1949--1962	38	(29)
The Warren Court and Its Critics, 1962--1969	67	(40)
PART II The Court and the Conservative Turn in American Politics, 1969--1994
The Nixon Court and the Conservative Turn, 1969--1980	107	(49)
The Reagan Court and the Conservative Ascendance, 1980--1994	156	(43)
PART III The Rehnquist Court and the Splintering of Judicial Conservatism, 1994--2003
Activism and Restraint on the Rehnquist Court	199	(55)
Law and Politics on the Rehnquist Court	254	(30)
Conclusion: Modern Conservatism and Judicial Power	284	(13)
Notes	297	(30)
Cases Cited	327	(12)
References	339	(18)
Index	357