An authoritative survey of the Taft Court, which served from 1921 to 1929, and the impact it had on the U.S. legal system, social order, economics, and politics. William Howard Taft's experience in the executive branch gave him a unique perspective on the court's work. He initiated judicial reform and was the prime mover behind the Judiciary Act of 1925, which gave the court wide latitude to accept cases based on their importance to the nation. The Taft Court decided about 1,600 cases during its nine terms. This book examines the "aggregate" personality of the court through discussions of individual voting characteristics, bloc alignments, and other patterned behavior. It also charts the strengths and weaknesses of the rulings and demonstrates Taft's penchant for increasing the impact of decisions by pursuing consensus among the justices, two of whom were his own appointees when he served as president. An A-Z set of entries on the people, laws, events, and concepts that are important to an understanding of the Taft Court A photograph of and a brief bibliography on each justice

A comprehensive examination of the rulings, key figures, and legal legacy of the Stone Court. When President Franklin Roosevelt got the chance to appoint seven Supreme Court justices within five years, he created a bench packed with liberals and elevated justice Harlan Fiske Stone to lead them. Roosevelt Democrats expected great things from the Stone Court. But for the most part, they were disappointed. The Stone Court significantly expanded executive authority. It also supported the rights of racial minorities, laying the foundation for subsequent rulings on desegregation and discrimination. But whatever gains it made in advancing individual rights were overshadowed by its decisions regarding the evacuation of Japanese Americans. Although the Stone Court itself did not profoundly affect individual rights jurisprudence, it became the bridge between the pre-1937 constitutional interpretation and the "new constitutionalism" that came after.

The "Constitutional Rights Sourcebook" examines fundamental ideas of constitutionalism and American constitutional law through case summaries. The U.S. Supreme Court as an institution is featured and its rulings and rationale are represented throughout the work, beginning with a thorough treatment of the current court and including all the significant rulings since the mid-1980s.