Packing the Court Hardback - 2009

by Burns, James MacGregor

From renowned political theorist and Pulitzer Prize winner JamesMacGregor Burns, an illuminating critique of how an unstable,unaccountable, and frequently partisan Supreme Court has come towield more power than the founding fathers ever intended

For decades, James MacGregor Burns has been oneof the great masters of the study of power and leadership inAmerica. Now he turns his eye to an institution of governmentthat he believes has become more powerful, and more partisan,than the founding fathers ever intended-the Supreme Court.Much as we would like to believe that the Court remains alooffrom ideological politics, Packing the Court reveals how oftenjustices behave like politicians in robes.

Few Americans appreciate that the framers of theConstitution envisioned a much more limited role for theSupreme Court than it has come to occupy. In keeping withthe founders' desire for balanced government, the Constitutiondoes not grant the Supreme Court the power of judicialreview-that is, the ability to veto acts of Congress and thepresident. Yet throughout its history, as Packing the Courtdetails, the Supreme Court has blocked congressional laws and,as a result, often derailed progressive reform.The term "packing the court" is usually appliedto FDR's failed attempt to expand the size of the Court aftera conservative bench repeatedly overturned key elements ofthe New Deal. But Burns shows that FDR was not the onlypresident to confront a high court that seemed bent on fightingpopular mandates for change, nor was he the only one to tryto manipulate the bench for political ends. Many of our mosteffective leaders-from Jefferson to Jackson, Lincoln to FDR-have clashed with powerful justices who refused to recognizethe claims of popularly elected majorities. Burns contends thatthese battles have threatened the nation's welfare in the mostcrucial moments of our history, from the Civil War to the GreatDepression-and may do so again.

Given the erratic and partisan nature of SupremeCourt appointments, Burns believes we play political roulettewith the Constitution with each election cycle. Now, eight yearsafter Bush v. Gore, ideological justices have the tightest gripon the Court in recent memory. Drawing on more than twocenturies of American history, Packing the Court offers a clear-eyedcritique of judicial rule and a bold proposal to rein in theSupreme Court's power over the elected branches.