Democracy and Equality, Geoffrey R. Stone
Democracy and Equality, Geoffrey R. Stone
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Democracy and Equality
The Enduring Constitutional Vision of the Warren Court

Author: Geoffrey R. Stone, David A. Strauss

Narrator: Tom Perkins

Unabridged: 5 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Kalorama

Published: 07/14/2020


Synopsis

From 1953 to 1969, the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren brought about many of the proudest achievements of American constitutional law. The Warren Court declared racial segregation and laws forbidding interracial marriage to be unconstitutional; it expanded the right of citizens to criticize public officials; it held school prayer unconstitutional; and it ruled that people accused of a crime must be given a lawyer even if they can't afford one. Yet, despite those and other achievements, conservative critics have fiercely accused the justices of the Warren Court of abusing their authority by supposedly imposing their own opinions on the nation.

As the eminent legal scholars Geoffrey R. Stone and David A. Strauss demonstrate in Democracy and Equality, the Warren Court's approach to the Constitution was consistent with the most basic values of our Constitution and with the most fundamental responsibilities of our judiciary. Stone and Strauss describe the Warren Court's extraordinary achievements by reviewing its jurisprudence across a range of issues. In each chapter, they tell the story of a critical decision, exploring the historical and legal context of each case, the Court's reasoning, and how the justices of the Warren Court fulfilled the Court's most important responsibilities.

About Geoffrey R. Stone

Geoffrey R. Stone is the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. Mr. Stone joined the faculty in 1973, after serving as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. He is a preeminent constitutional law scholar.


Reviews

Essential reading if you want to understand what is at stake for our democracy and why the courts matter. A historical look at the Warren court and its principled interpretation of our Constitution. The Warren court was deferential to the legislature by default and only sought to intervene when it s......more

Goodreads review by Daniel

I guess it’s worth reading a full-throated op-ed level attack on originalism and defense of living constitutionalism and the Warren court revolution. If you already know what they’d say about these things at a dinner party though, you’ll get nothing here. There’s no discussion of the limits of “comm......more

Goodreads review by Joseph

Goes through interesting case studies and paints a coherent and compelling picture.......more