The Least Dangerous Branch Alexander M. Bickel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bickel, Alexander M., Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. Supreme Court.

United States.

Political questions and judicial power--United States.

Political questions and judicial power.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 303 p. )

Edition:

2nd ed. / with a new foreword by Harry H. Wellington.

Place of Publication:

New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, [1986]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

This classic book on the role of the Supreme Court in our democracy traces the history of the Court, assessing the merits of various decisions along the way. Eminent law professor Alexander Bickel begins with Marbury vs. Madison, which he says gives shaky support to judicial review, and concludes with the school desegregation cases of 1954, which he uses to show the extent and limits of the Court's power. In this way he accomplishes his stated purpose: "to have the Supreme Court's exercise of judicial review better understood and supported and more sagaciously used." The book now includes new foreword by Henry Wellington.Reviews of the Earlier Edition:"Dozens of books have examined and debated the court's role in the American system. Yet there remains great need for the scholarship and perception, the sound sense and clear view Alexander Bickel brings to the discussion.... Students of the court will find much independent and original thinking supported by wide knowledge. Many judges could read the book with profit." -Donovan Richardson, Christian Science Monitor"The Yale professor is a law teacher who is not afraid to declare his own strong views of legal wrongs... One of the rewards of this book is that Professor Bickel skillfully knits in "ations from a host of authorities and, since these are carefully documented, the reader may look them up in their settings. Among the author's favorites is the late Thomas Reed Powell of Harvard, whose wit flashes on a good many pages." -Irving Dillard, Saturday ReviewAlexander M. Bickel was professor of law at Yale University.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

CHAPTER 1. Establishment and General Justification of Judicial Review

CHAPTER 2. The Premise of Distrust and Rules of Limitation

CHAPTER 3. "The Infirm Glory of the Positive Hour"

CHAPTER 4. The Passive Virtues

CHAPTER 5. Neither Force nor Will

CHAPTER 6. The Supreme Court at the Bar of Politics

Notes

Table of Cases

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Bibliography: p. 273-289.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780300173338

0300173334

9780585359748

0585359741

OCLC:

1024016342