Courting Disaster: The Supreme Court and the Unmaking of American Law
by Martin Garbus
Category: Political Science

A provocative look at the naked political agenda of today's Supreme Court, from one of America's foremost jurists. In the fall of 2000, when the United States Supreme Court handed down a decision that effectively decided a Presidential election, the Court's role in political life suddenly was thrust onto center stage. But, as legendary attorney and activist Martin Garbus argues, the Court has been a hotbed of politics for years, and it's time we took off our blinders and stopped treating the justices as the protectors of objective truth. For more than a generation, the Supreme Court has been quietly but aggressively rolling back legislation that has been fundamental to our justice system and economy since the days of Franklin Roosevelt. Although they remain on the books, laws concerning everything from abortion to the rights of suspects have been all but eviscerated. Most of the legal principles involved are subtle and technical, and often are lost on the general public. But in Courting Disaster Garbus brilliantly explicates the ways in which seemingly small decisions by the Court can preciptate radical change in American law, and then in American society. Ultimately, Garbus issues a passionate, well-argued wake-up call to liberal forces, urging the restoration of the Court's bipartisanship and objectivity.