The two-hundredth anniversary of the U.S. Constitution and the intense
debates surrounding the recent nominees to the Supreme Court have
refocused attention on one of the most fundamental documents in U.S.
history -- and on the judges who settle disputes over its
interpretation.
Liberty under Law is a concise and readable history of the U.S. Supreme
Court, from its antecedents in colonial and British legal tradition to
the present. William M. Wiecek surveys the impact of the Court's power
of judicial review on important aspects of the nation's political,
economic, and social life. The author highlights important decisions on
issues that range from the scope and legitimacy of judicial review
itself to civil rights, censorship, the rights of privacy, separation of
church and state, and the powers of the President and Congress to
conduct foreign affairs.
Wiecek's own beliefs about the Court and the Constitution are unabashed
and clearly stated. He expresses admiration for John Marshall while
critically reviewing the mixed achievements of Marshall's successor,
Roger Taney, author of the infamous Dred Scott opinion, which upheld the
legitimacy of slavery. And he offers sharp criticism of the Court's
"formalist" era in the early twentieth century, when judicial
obstructionists "sought to shield a minority of wealth from the effects
of democratic politics."
Throughout, Wiecek underscores the importance of disagreements over just
what law is, and over the Court's role in interpreting that law. In so
doing, he broadens the context for current debates about the
Constitution and efforts to establish what some have called a
"jurisprudence of original intention." The mirror of history, heshows,
reveals the limitations of such a narrow scope of interpretation.
