Title: The long reach of the Sixties
Description: "Americans often hear that Presidential elections are about "who controls" the Supreme Court. In The Long Reach of the Sixties, eminent legal historian Laura Kalman focuses on the period between 1965 and 1971, when Presidents Johnson and Nixon launched the most ambitious effort to do so since Franklin Roosevelt tried to pack it with additional justices. Those six years-- the apex of the Warren Court, often described as the most liberal in American history, and the dawn of the Burger Court--saw two successful Supreme Court nominations and two failed ones by LBJ, four successful nominations and two failed ones by Nixon, the first resignation of a Supreme Court justice as a result of White House pressure, and the attempted impeachment of another. Using LBJ and Nixon's telephone conversations and a wealth of archival collections, Kalman roots their efforts to mold the Court in their desire to protect their Presidencies, and she sets the contests over it within the broader context of a struggle between the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government. The battles that ensued transformed the meaning of the Warren Court in American memory. Despite the fact that the Court's work generally reflected public opinion, these fights calcified the image of the Warren Court as "activist" and "liberal" in one of the places that image hurts the most--the contemporary Supreme Court appointment process. To this day, the term "activist Warren Court" has totemic power among conservatives. Kalman has a second purpose as well: to explain how the battles of the sixties changed the Court itself as an institution in the long term and to trace the ways in which the 1965-71 period has haunted--indeed scarred--the Supreme Court appointments process"--
Subjects: Politics and government, Judges, Officials and employees, United States. Supreme Court, United States, Selection and appointment, History, United states, supreme court, United states, politics and government, 1963-1969, United states, politics and government, 1961-, HISTORY / United States / 20th Century, LAW / Legal History, United States Supreme Court, United States. Supreme Court -- Officials and employees -- Selection and appointment -- History -- 20th century, United States Supreme Court -- Officials and employees -- Selection and appointment -- History -- 20th century, Judges -- Selection and appointment -- United States -- History -- 20th century, United States -- Politics and government -- 1963-1969, United States -- Politics and government -- 1969-1974
Places: United States
Time periods: 1969-1974, 20th century, 1963-1969