The Dirty Dozen: How Twelve Supreme Court Cases Radically Expanded Government and Eroded Freedom
Author: Robert Levy
A non-lawyer's guide to the worst Supreme Court decisions of the modern era
The Dirty Dozen takes on twelve Supreme Court cases that changed American history—and yet are not well known to most Americans.
Starting in the New Deal era, the Court has allowed breathtaking expansions of government power that significantly reduced individual rights and abandoned limited federal government as envisioned by the founders.
For example: • Helvering v. Davis (1937) allowed the government to take money from some and give it to others, without any meaningful constraints
• Wickard v. Filburn (1942) let Congress use the interstate commerce clause to regulate even the most trivial activities—neither interstate nor commerce
• Kelo v. City of New London (2005) declared that the government can seize private property and transfer it to another private owner
Levy and Mellor untangle complex Court opinions to explain how The Dirty Dozen harmed ordinary Americans. They argue for a Supreme Court that will enforce what the Constitution actually says about civil liberties, property rights, racial preferences, gun ownership, and many other controversial issues.
Publishers Weekly
Cato Institute senior fellow Levy and lawyer Mellor, in this excellent examination of twelve far-reaching Supreme Court cases and their consequences, force readers to question the direction in which the judiciary has led our country over the past century-and possibly their own attitudes toward the federal government. The authors deftly navigate the complicated proceedings without slipping into lawyer-speak, while unapologetically leaning on their libertarian sentiments to color their commentary and analysis. Though the writers defend well their claim that the dozen cases under discussion-with a number of "dishonorable mentions" and an appendix each for Roe v. Wade and Bush v. Gore-have expanded the federal government and eroded civil liberties, one can't help but feel a creeping sense of arrogance when Levy and Mellor assert repeatedly that they know how the Constitution's authors would view the document were they alive today. Still, the authors' canny investigation into the Supreme Court should call into doubt some of the staid political viewpoints readers may have taken too long for granted.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Becky Kennedy - Library Journal
Levy (senior fellow, Cato Inst.) and Mellor (president & general counsel, Inst. for Justice), both affiliated with libertarian think tanks, have chosen 12 Supreme Court cases that, in their opinion, severely limited individual rights through the expansion of government. As their introduction makes clear, they are conservatives who favor limited government intervention, and the cases they have chosen reflect their position. The chapters are organized by the constitutional issues raised by each case, such as promoting the general welfare, regulating interstate commerce, and property rights. The authors' critiques of these issues are sure to provoke debate. However, they do examine each case on the basis of legal reasoning and in each chapter lay out the flaws in the Court's thinking that make each decision in their view a "bad" one. These explanations are the strong points of the book. Although some readers will disagree with their viewpoint, Levy and Mellor have done a good job of explaining their thinking. Public libraries may be interested in this book for legal collections, but academic libraries can find other, more scholarly titles.
Kirkus Reviews
Two conservative lawyers register their outrage at the Supreme Court's "back door" expansion of government and erosion of civil rights. Cato Institute scholar Levy and Institute for Justice president (and former Reagan counsel) Mellor unabashedly assert that their interpretation of the Constitution is "committed to the values of individual liberty, private property, and free markets." The dozen cases they examine, in their view, betrayed the principles of the Founding Fathers and vastly enlarged federal power over the course of the 20th century, specifically from the New Deal onward. The book is organized thematically, with four cases grouped under "Expanding Government" and eight under "Eroding Freedom." For each, the authors outline the facts, then offer their explanation of where the courts went wrong and what the implications are. Helvering v. Davis (1937) upheld the legality of the Social Security Act by embracing the "general welfare" clause in the Constitution; the authors call this an authorization to "rob Peter in order to pay Paul." They view Wickard v. Filburn (1942) as a pernicious expansion of the Constitution's Interstate Commerce Clause. Such cases as Whitman v. American Trucking Associations, Inc. (2001), they contend, have fostered the concentration of power in the hands of unelected administrative agencies. The authors deplore the expansive view of eminent domain taken in Kelo v. City of New London (2005), seeing its roots in earlier decisions supporting urban renewal. They scornfully critique the court's upholding of affirmative action in higher education in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), and they also blast the justices for affirming the legality of interningJapanese-Americans during World War II in Korematsu v. United States (1944), a clear violation of civil rights. In every instance, they advocate a narrow view of constitutional restraints, as opposed to a "living Constitution" flexible to changing modern needs. Grating at times, but these sternly libertarian arguments keep the constitutional dialogue lively and accessible.
Table of Contents:
Foreword Richard A. Epstein Epstein, Richard A.
Pt. 1 Expanding Government
Ch. 1 Promoting the General Welfare 19
The Dirty Dozen List: Helvering v. Davis (1937)
Dishonorable Mention: United States v. Butler (1936)
Ch. 2 Regulating Interstate Commerce 37
The Dirty Dozen List: Wickard v. Filbum (1942)
Dishonorable Mention: Gonzales v. Raith (200S)
Ch. 3 Rescinding Private Contracts 50
The Dirty Dozen List: Home Building & Loan Association v. Blaisdell (1934)
Dishonorable Mention: Gold Clause Cases (1935)
Ch. 4 Lawmaking by Administrative Agencies 67
The Dirty Dozen List: Whitman v. American Trucking Associations, Inc. (2001)
Pt. 2 Eroding Freedom
Ch. 5 Campaign Finance Reform and Free Speech 89
The Dirty Dozen List: McConnell v. Federal Election Commission (2003)
Dishonorable Mention: Buckley v. Valeo (1976)
Ch. 6 Gun Owners' Rights 107
The Dirty Dozen List: United States v. Miller (1939)
Ch. 7 Civil Liberties Versus National Security 127
The Dirty Dozen List: Korematsu v. United States (1944)
Ch. 8 Asset Foifeiture Without Due Process 143
The Dirty Dozen List: Bennis v. Michigan (1996)
Ch. 9 Eminent Domain for Private Use 155
The Dirty Dozen List: Kelo v. City of New London (2005)
Dishonorable Mention: Berman v. Parker (1954)
Ch. 10 Taking Property by Regulation 169
The Dirty Dozen List: Penn Central Transportation Co. v. NewYork (1978)
Dishonorable Mention: Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc., v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (2002)
Ch. 11 Earning an Honest Living 181
The Dirty Dozen List: United States v. Carolene Products (1938)
DishonorableMention: Nebbia v. New York (1934)
Ch. 12 Equal Protection and Racial Preferences 198
The Dirty Dozen List: Grutter v. Bollinger (2003)
Dishonorable Mention: Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)
Afterword: Judicial Activism and Tomorrow's Supreme Court 215
Postscript #1: Roe v. Wade (1973) 225
Postscript #2: Bush v. Gore (2000) 229
The Constitution of the United States of America 235
Table of Cases 255
Notes 261
Index 291
Interesting book: The Paleo Diet for Athletes or The Complete Book of Incense Oils and Brews
White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters
Author: Robert Schlesinger
In White House Ghosts, veteran Washington reporter Robert Schlesinger opens a fresh and revealing window on the modern presidency from FDR to George W. Bush. This is the first book to examine a crucial and often hidden role played by the men and women who help presidents find the words they hope will define their places in history.
Drawing on scores of interviews with White House scribes and on extensive archival research, Schlesinger weaves intimate, amusing, compelling stories that provide surprising insights into the personalities, quirks, egos, ambitions, and humor of these presidents as well as how well or not they understood the bully pulpit.
White House Ghosts traces the evolution of the presidential speechwriter's job from Raymond Moley under FDR through such luminaries as Ted Sorensen and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., under JFK, Jack Valenti and Richard Goodwin under LBJ, William Safire and Pat Buchanan under Nixon, Hendrik Hertzberg and James Fallows under Carter, and Peggy Noonan under Reagan, to the "Troika" of Michael Gerson, John McConnell, and Matthew Scully under George W. Bush.
White House Ghosts tells the fascinating inside stories behind some of the most iconic presidential phrases: the first inaugural of FDR ("the only thing we have to fear is fear itself ") and JFK ("ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country"), Richard Nixon's "I am not a crook" and Ronald Reagan's "tear down this wall" speeches, Bill Clinton's ending "the era of big government" State of the Union, and George W. Bush's post-9/11 declaration that "whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice willbe done" -- and dozens of other noteworthy speeches. The book also addresses crucial questions surrounding the complex relationship between speechwriter and speechgiver, such as who actually crafted the most memorable phrases, who deserves credit for them, and who has claimed it.
Schlesinger tells the story of the modern American presidency through this unique prism -- how our chief executives developed their very different rhetorical styles and how well they grasped the rewards of reaching out to the country. White House Ghosts is dramatic, funny, gripping, surprising, serious -- and always entertaining.
The Washington Post - David Greenberg
Delightful vignettes…fill Robert Schlesinger's White House Ghosts. Although the book is more anecdotal and episodic than analytical, its accumulated evidence drives home an often-neglected point: A president's articulation of ideas makes them real. A speechwriter, far from a technician who simply bangs out the phrases to express predetermined policies, invariably helps to shape those policies. Great speeches have done more than voice well-wrought sentiments or lofty calls for change. They have midwifed social programs, joined moral battles, rallied (or squandered) public support and enabled presidents to enter and exit wars…it's illuminating to see how different presidents' characters played out in their speeches.
The New York Times - Caryn James
…lively, sometimes plodding but always valuable and painstakingly researched…The son of the historian and presidential speechwriter Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., [Robert Schlesinger] has an innate respect for the ghost's profession, and argues that, at least since Franklin D. Roosevelt brought the office into the media age by grasping radio's power, presidents' "political successes often reflected" their good or bad use of speechwriters. Viewing each subsequent administration through that narrow lens becomes the book's great limitation, but Mr. Schlesinger makes up for it with his richly detailed sense of the maneuvers behind presidential speeches, from turf battles among staffers to the connection between ghostwriting and policy making.
Leigh Mihlrad - Library Journal
Schlesinger (political reporting, Washington Journalism Ctr., Boston Univ.), son of the late historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., has penned a detail-packed volume chronologically covering presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt through the current Bush administration, with extensive insight into how these leaders have had their messages crafted and packaged. His short introduction does cover pre-FDR presidents (after all, even Washington got help with his speeches), but his focus starts with FDR as the first president to engage in communication through mass media. While some presidents utilized more speechwriters than others, and some accepted their writers' speeches as merely an "outline" from which to ad lib, all recognized the necessity of the speechwriter position. Schlesinger's chapters move from one administration to the next without transitional language and often jump midstream into the next term. Nonetheless, as a whole, the book succeeds as a perspective on the last 75 years of American history, albeit with lots of detail and less interpretation. Recommended for public and academic libraries.
Kirkus Reviews
Schlesinger (Political Journalism/Boston Univ.) confidently assesses the diverse contributions made by speechwriters toiling thanklessly on behalf of presidents from FDR to G.W. Bush. With the advent of radio, Warren Harding became the first president to have a full-time speechwriter, although even George Washington asked someone else (James Madison) to help draft his farewell address. Schlesinger attributes the modern style of presidential communication to FDR, whose memorable slogans were variously coined by the speechwriting trio of Samuel Rosenman, Raymond Moley and Louis Howe, with Roosevelt weaving together their ideas. The author looks at each presidential style in turn. Truman, who delivered speeches awkwardly, used lawyers, economists and public-administration men such as Clark Clifford and George Elsey as his writers. Eisenhower, a stickler for good grammar, liked the "straightforward, meat-and-potatoes style" crafted by Bryce Harlow. Eisenhower's team hired the first black speechwriter, Frederic Morrow, and coined the term "military-industrial complex" for his farewell speech. Ted Sorensen used short words with simplicity and clarity in his speeches for JFK, though his boss took the credit and often ad-libbed. (The author's father, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., plays a strong supporting role in this chapter as a Kennedy aide and speechwriter.) Bill Moyers and Richard Goodwin merged the roles of writer and policymaker during their time with LBJ, forging a preferred style somewhere between eloquent and forceful. Nixon was an exacting writer and editor, never satisfied with the drafts he was given by Ray Price or William Safire. Ford allowed his top advisers to squabble over hisspeeches. Carter disastrously tried to write all his own, while Peggy Noonan famously helped establish Reagan as "the Great Communicator." The first Bush eliminated personal detail from his speeches because he tended to choke up; Clinton was a master at ad-libbing. The "troika" of Michael Gerson, John McConnell and Matthew Scully gave Bush II "an axis of evil" to fulminate against. Schlesinger lingers over particular speeches good and bad, thereby offering a revealing look at the making of history. Well-reasoned and capably constructed. Agent: Andrew Wylie/The Wylie Agency
No comments:
Post a Comment