Examines the power of the Supreme Court and cites specific cases which illustrate its relationship with other political institutions.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A classic,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Least Dangerous Branch: The Supreme Court at the Bar of Politics (Paperback)
This book is one of the true classics of constitutional scholarship. Although written in 1962, the book still contains valuable lessons for current times. In a nutshell, Bickel's approach to judicial review is cautious, skeptical. He possesses doubts as to the reasoning put forward in Marbury v. Madison, the seminal decision laying the groundwork for U.S. judicial review. Yet he is wise enough to realize that in a constitutional democracy, the judiciary must exercise some power to check the other two branches. The inescapable tension between these two positions is what propels the book along. Written only several years after Brown v. Board of Education and just coming at the start of the Warren Court's run of activism, it reads almost as a historical novel at times. Bickel was one of the leading constitutional scholars of the second half of the 20th century, and this book is the earliest full exposition of his views. These views would change over the years before his untimely death in 1974 (compare this book with his final work, The Morality of Consent), but it is fun to see where he started from and how his thinking evolved.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of my favorite books on law and the U.S. Constitution,
By Swami B "Swami B" (Harlem, NY USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Least Dangerous Branch: The Supreme Court at the Bar of Politics (Paperback)
This book is a classic text on judicial restraint and one of the best studies of constitutional law. Law professor Author Alexander M. Bickel was one of the most influential constitutional commentators of the 20th century, and this book is a masterwork. In it, Bickel famously coins the term "countermajoritarian difficulty" to describe his view that judicial review undermines democracy. Whether you are conservative or liberal, you will find his discussions on the role of the Supreme Court in our democratic society compelling and insightful.
4.0 out of 5 stars
A classic, but...,
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This review is from: The Least Dangerous Branch (Paperback)
First of all, there's no denying that this is a classic book about courts. I'd seen Bickel cited numerous times long before I ever read this. Despite that, or perhaps because of that, reading it was a bit of a disappointment. Bickel asks important questions about the origins of constitutional review in the U.S. and makes a strong argument for judicial restraint. Yet, those questions seem old and rehashed ad nauseum in the field of judicial politics. Moreover, Bickel admits that Marbury v. Madison potentially had textual foundations (saying Marshall's interpretation was permitted, but not required, by the text), but he still seems intent on claiming the decision rests on shaky grounds. After 200 years, there just don't seem to be any politically potent challenges to the Supreme Court's power of constitutional review. If anything, it appears Bickel overstated his case. Still, this is useful corrective for anybody who still thinks constitutional review is the Supreme Court's God-given right.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
The least dangerous branch of the American government is the most extraordinarily powerful court of law the world has ever known. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
candid service, benevolent quota, serious constitutional doubt, principled goal, certiorari jurisdiction, informing function, principled judgment, constitutional judgment, clear mistake, government under law, constitutional adjudication, constitutional standing, legislative apportionment, judicial review, least dangerous branch, passive virtues, moving party, northern opinion, neutral principles, judicial judgment Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Times Film, Bill of Rights, First Amendment, School Segregation Cases, Commerce Clause, Fourteenth Amendment, Justice Frankfurter, New York, Dred Scott, Supremacy Clause, Little Rock, Professor Black, Civil War, District of Columbia, Learned Hand, New Deal, Railway Express, Times Square, Don Juan, Felix Cohen, Professor Louis, Chief Justice Hughes, Court of Appeals, Fifth Amendment New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The least dangerous branch of the American government is the most extraordinarily powerful court of law the world has ever known. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
candid service, benevolent quota, serious constitutional doubt, principled goal, certiorari jurisdiction, informing function, principled judgment, constitutional judgment, clear mistake, government under law, constitutional adjudication, constitutional standing, legislative apportionment, judicial review, least dangerous branch, passive virtues, moving party, northern opinion, neutral principles, judicial judgment Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Times Film, Bill of Rights, First Amendment, School Segregation Cases, Commerce Clause, Fourteenth Amendment, Justice Frankfurter, New York, Dred Scott, Supremacy Clause, Little Rock, Professor Black, Civil War, District of Columbia, Learned Hand, New Deal, Railway Express, Times Square, Don Juan, Felix Cohen, Professor Louis, Chief Justice Hughes, Court of Appeals, Fifth Amendment New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 69
books:
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119
books
cite this book:
See all 119 books citing this book
- The Bill of Rights (Irvington Reprint Series in Political Science) by Hugo L. Black on 12 pages
- Bill of Rights by Learned Hand on 6 pages
- Government Under Law (Law Politics and History Ser) by Arthur E. Sutherland on 4 pages
- John Marshall (American Constitutional and Legal History Series) by James Bradley Thayer on page 86, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Least Dangerous Branch: The Supreme Court at the Bar of Politics by Alexander M. Bickel in Front Matter (1), Front Matter (2), and Front Matter (3)
See all 69 books this book cites
- American Constitutionalism by Stephen M. Griffin on 7 pages
- The Oxford Dictionary of American Legal Quotations by Fred R. Shapiro on 6 pages
- The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States by Kermit L. Hall on 6 pages
- Constitutionalism: Philosophical Foundations (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Law) by Larry Alexander on 5 pages
- In Defense of a Political Court. by Terri Jennings Peretti on 5 pages
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