Men in Black: How the Supreme Court Is Destroying America [Paperback]

Mark R. Levin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2006

The bestselling Men in Black-first time in paperback! Lawyer and hugely popular radio talk show host Mark Levin throws the book at out-of-control liberal judges who ignore the Constitution, dismantle the rights of American citizens, and make up their own coercive law from the bench.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Conservative talk radio host, lawyer, and frequent National Review contributor Mark R. Levin comes out firing against the United States Supreme Court in Men in Black, accusing the institution of corrupting the ideals of America's founding fathers. The court, in Levin's estimation, pursues an ideology-based activist agenda that oversteps its authority within the government. Levin examines several decisions in the court's history to illustrate his point, beginning with the landmark Marbury v. Madison case, wherein the court granted itself the power to declare acts of the other branches of government unconstitutional. He devotes later chapters to other key cases culminating in modern issues such as same-sex marriage and the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill. Like effective attorneys do, Levin packs in copious research material and delivers his points with tremendous vigor, excoriating the justices for instances where he feels strict constit utional constructivism gave way to biased interpretation. But Levin's definition of "activism" seems inconsistent. In the case of McCain-Feingold, the court declined to rule on a bill already passed by congress and signed by the president, but Levin, who thinks the bill violates the First Amendment, still accuses them of activism even when they were actually passive. To his talk-radio listeners, Levin's hard-charging style and dire warnings of the court's direction will strike a resonant tone of alarm, though the hyperbole may be a bit off-putting to the uninitiated. As an attack on the vagaries of decisions rendered by the Supreme Court and on some current justices, Men in Black scores points and will likely lead sympathetic juries to conviction. --John Moe --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

The Supreme Court is speeding the country on the road to tyranny, according to this jeremiad from Levin, a conservative constitutional lawyer and radio talk show host. Levin argues that the Constitution is under siege by "judicial activists" obsessed with remaking America to reflect their personal political and moral philosophies. Liberal judges who view the Constitution as a document whose meaning evolves over time are at odds with the founding fathers' "clear and profound vision for what they wanted our federal government to be." "Activist judges," he says, "make, rather than interpret, the law." The author champions originalism, the conservative legal philosophy hinging on a narrow interpretation of the Constitution's text, and he contends that moving the judiciary back into the originalist fold could thwart the power grab by "radicals in robes." Levin traces trends in judicial activism through some of the Supreme Court's most famous cases, from Marbury v. Madison (1803), which enshrined the high court's power to weigh the constitutionality of presidential and congressional acts, to Roe v. Wade (1973). He also blasts affirmative action decisions, contending that the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause should be sufficient to combat racial discrimination. Levin is an ardent advocate, but at times his strident tone gets in the way of objective analyses of the system's flaws. Would the founders be as "appalled" by the present-day Supreme Court as Levin is? That's impossible to say, but many likeminded critics are certain to be galvanized by this spirited "clarion call," which is bookended by raves from conservative radio broadcaster Rush Limbaugh and former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing; annotated edition edition (August 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596980095
• ISBN-13: 978-1596980099
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (280 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,862 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #2 in Books > Law > Procedures & Litigation > Courts
  • #11 in Books > Law > Criminal Law > Law Enforcement
  • #45 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Crime & Criminals 

More About the Author

Mark R. Levin is a nationally syndicated talk radio host and president of Landmark Legal Foundation. He has also worked as an attorney in the private sector and as a top adviser and administrator to several members of President Reagan's cabinet. He is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling book Liberty and Tyranny, as well as New York Times bestselling books Rescuing Sprite and Men in Black: How the Supreme Court Is Destroying America, Mark holds a B.A. from Temple University and a J.D. from Temple University School of Law.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

312 of 405 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Democracy vs Oligarchy, February 7, 2005

By 

J. Aubrey (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Men in Black: How the Supreme Court Is Destroying America (Hardcover)

This book is for those who actually want to understand the Constitution and the power grab by the very institution with the responsibility for interpreting it--the Supreme Court.

The Court has the power to declare federal and state laws unconstitutional. That means a committee of nine unelected, unaccountable (life tenured) LAWYERS have a a veto power over our elected officials. To the extent that power is abused, the effect is to substitute oligarchy for democracy. Hence the phrase "judicial tyranny."

Until about fifty years ago, the governing principle for interpreting the Constitution was the understanding of the ratifiers when it was adopted, determined from the language of the document and the history and circumstances at the time. This "originalist" approach to Constitutional interpretation generally held sway until the 1960s, when some of the justices started speaking in terms of the Constitution as a "living" and "evolving" document with "penumbras." In other words, this committee of nine give themselves the right to "modernize" the Constitution by striking down laws enacted by elected legislators if they offend their individual sense of the "evolving standards" of society." They just know better than our elected officials.

A good example is the recent decision striking down all state sodomy laws. The first time the court considered this was in 1987, when a majority applied a originalist interpretation in concluding that the ratifiers could not have intended to create a constitutional right to sodomy. That was obvious given that sodomy was universally outlawed when the Constitution and relevant amendments were ratified and for over 150 years later. As the court pointed out, societial norms may have changed since ratification, but the proper way for that to be addressed is by our elected representatives, not a court decision. The recent sodomy decision reached the opposite conclusion, with the enlightened public policy of our robed masters overruling our state legislatures.

This usurpation of democracy is also reflected in decisions relating to abortion, religion, immigration, elections, civil rights and many other areas.

Since the political left cannot convince a majority to adopt its European agenda, it resorts to the Court and that's why originalist judges are essential to preserve the separate roles of the legislative and judicial branches of our constitutional system.

58 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exellent Arguments, February 16, 2005

By 

Critcal Reviewer "CR" (Newburgh, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Men in Black: How the Supreme Court Is Destroying America (Hardcover)

Many historians talk about the huge increases in presidential power throughout history. Now however Mark Levin has done an excellent job of showing rather how the courts have, in effect, absolute power to push their social will on America. There is no checks and balances in place for activist judges. Their rulings are supreme. The book is also an excellent read to learn the history of the Supreme Court and various Supreme Court judges which presided over the court in the past. Whether you are liberal or conservative, you will find it hard to disagree with the points made in this book.

Highly recommended.

33 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great look at where we have come from, February 28, 2005

By 

Aaron A. Miller - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Men in Black: How the Supreme Court Is Destroying America (Hardcover)

In this book, Levin traces one controversial Supreme Court decision per chapter. He spends time on what the framers of the Constitution intended, followed by the slow perversion of that intent, leading up to a landmark court decision (i.e. Roe v. Wade). Reading this book made me very grateful for the "originalists" on the Supreme Court that stand up for what this country was founded on. Unfortunately, there are not enough of them.
This book would be a good read for everyone, whether you agree with the authors stance or not.