Sober as a Judge : The Supreme Court and Republican Liberty

by Stevens, Richard G.; Franck, Mathew J.

• ISBN13: 9780739100370
• ISBN10: 0739100378
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-09-01
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Pub Inc

Summary

The premise of this fascinating study is that judicial sobriety has been underappreciated in scholarship and commentary on the Supreme Court, and that this underappreciation has led to a devaluation of certain justices. The five justices treated in this book-Nathan Clifford, Stanley Matthews, Edward White, Fred M. Vinson, and Antonin Scalia-have all exercised sobriety on the bench, and all have consequently been dealt with unjustly. These judges realized that judicial sobriety begins with a recognition that law and politics are distinct and separate enterprises. The authors assert that a good and sober judge goes only about the business of applying the Constitution and the laws in cases and controversies before him, and does not attempt to apply creative jurisprudence. Sober as a Judge will prove to be an essential volume for scholars of political science, history, and law.

Table of Contents

Foreword The President, the Senate, and Judicial Appointments	ix
Thomas L. Jipping
Preface	xxiii
Acknowledgments	xxv
Introduction: The Sober Justices, Guardians of Republican Liberty	1	(24)
Richard G. Stevens
Judicial Sobriety: Nathan P. Clifford	25	(28)
Robert Lowry Clinton
Kevin Walsh
Due Process of Law: Stanley Matthews	53	(44)
Richard G. Stevens
Constitutional Jurisprudence at the Crossroads: Edward Douglass White	97	(24)
Dennis G. Stevens
The Last Justice Without a Theory: Fred M. Vinson	121	(56)
Matthew J. Franck
Steady, Upright, and Impartial Administration of the Laws: Antonin Scalia	177	(46)
Lane V. Sunderland
Epilogue: Staying Clean and Sober: The Future of the Supreme Court	223	(20)
Matthew J. Franck
Notes	243	(60)
Index of Cases	303	(6)
Index	309	(8)
About the Contributors	317