Chief Justiceships of the United States Supreme Court

William R. Casto sheds a new light on America's federal judiciary and the changing legal landscape with his detailed examination of the Supreme Court's formative years. In a study that spans the period from the Court's tentative beginnings through the appointment of its third chief justice, Casto reveals a judicial body quite different in orientation and philosophy from the current Supreme Court and one with a legacy of enduring significance for the U. S. legal system. rimes, the drafting of the Judiciary Act of 1789, and the adoption of judicial review.

A comprehensive study of the United States Supreme Court tenure of the only U.S. president to serve as chief justice In The Chief Justiceship of William Howard Taft, 1921—1930, Jonathan Lurie offers a comprehensive examination of the Supreme Court tenure of the only person to have held the offices of president of the United States and chief justice of the United States Supreme Court. Taft joined the Court during the Jazz Age and the era of prohibition, a period of disillusion and retreat from the idealism reflected during Woodrow Wilson's presidency. Lurie considers how conservative trends at this time were reflected in key decisions of Taft's court. Although Taft was considered an undistinguished chief executive, such a characterization cannot be applied to his tenure as chief justice. Lurie demonstrates that Taft's leadership on this tribunal, matched by his productive relations with Congress, in effect created the modern Supreme Court. Furthermore he draws on the unpublished letters Taft wrote to his three children, Robert, Helen, and Charles, generally once a week. His missives contain an intriguing mixture of family news, insights concerning contemporaneous political issues, and occasional commentary on his fellow justices and cases under consideration. Lurie structures his study in parallel with the eight full terms in which Taft occupied the center seat. Lurie examines key decisions while avoiding legal jargon wherever possible. The high point of Taft's chief justiceship was the period from 1921 to 1925. The second part of his tenure was in fact a period of slow decline, with his health worsening with each passing year. By early 1930 he was forced to resign, and his death soon followed. In the epilogue Lurie explains why Taft is still regarded as an outstanding chief justice-if not a great jurist-and details why this distinction is important.

A study of the man who led the Supreme Court as the nineteenth century ended and the twentieth began, exploring issues of property, government authority, and more. In this comprehensive interpretation of the Supreme Court during the pivotal tenure of Melville W. Fuller, James W. Ely Jr., provides a judicial biography of the man who led the Court from 1888 until 1910 as well as a comprehensive and thoughtful analysis of the jurisprudence dispensed under his leadership. Highlighting Fuller's skills as a judicial administrator, Ely argues that a commitment to economic liberty, the security of private property, limited government, and states' rights guided Fuller and his colleagues in their treatment of constitutional issues. Ely directly challenges the conventional idea that the Fuller Court adopted laissez-faire principles in order to serve the needs of business. Rather, Ely presents the Supreme Court's efforts to safeguard economic rights not as a single-minded devotion to corporate interests but as a fulfillment of the property-conscious values that shaped the constitution-making process in 1787. The resulting study illuminates a range of related legal issues, including the Supreme Court's handling of race relations, criminal justice, governmental authority, and private law disputes.