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The Hidden History of the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of America (The Thom Hartmann Hidden History Series) Paperback – October 1, 2019
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Thom Hartmann, the most popular progressive radio host in America and a New York Times bestselling author, lays out a sweeping and largely unknown history of the Supreme Court of the United States, from Alexander Hamilton's arguments against judicial review to modern-day debates, with key examples of cases where the Supreme Court overstepped its constitutional powers using the excuse of judicial review, and possible solutions.
Hartmann explains how the Supreme Court has spilled beyond its Constitutional powers in a series of rulings, including how it turned our elections over to American and foreign oligarchs with twin decisions in the 1970s, setting the stage for the very richest of that day to bring Ronald Reagan to power.
You'll hear the story of a series of Republican presidents who used fraud and treason to secure their elections, and how the GOP knew it but looked the other way because "the Court is hanging in the balance." A court that then went on to gut hundreds of pieces of progressive legislation, as Republicans had hoped.
Ironically, Hartmann points out, John Roberts (now the Court's Chief Justice), when he worked for Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, came up with a novel theory about how Congress could go around the Supreme Court. His goal was to effectively reverse Roe v. Wade and Brown v. Board, but in the process provides us with an elegant legal argument and legislative solution that could, in an emergency, be used by a progressive Congress and president to clean up much of the damage the Court has done in past decades.
Thomas Jefferson argued it is not the role of the Supreme Court to decide what the Constitution means, but rather the duty of the people themselves (and how they can do it). America may soon be forced to decide if it's going to continue to be governed as a constitutional monarchy, with nine unelected royals who have final say on everything, or if we are to revert to being a democratic republic as was largely the case before the late 1800s when America's first industrial era oligarchs corrupted the Court.
- Print length192 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBerrett-Koehler Publishers
- Publication dateOctober 1, 2019
- Dimensions4.94 x 0.52 x 7 inches
- ISBN-101523085940
- ISBN-13978-1523085941
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From the Publisher
The Thom Hartmann Hidden History Series
The Hidden History Series includes ten paramount and timely books that break down the biggest obstacles of today, placing them in historic context and providing real, tangible calls to action both for individuals and society at large. Each book concisely addresses these pressing current issues and offers a set of solutions with “roadmaps” for individuals and communities to follow to create a more equitable and prosperous economy and a safer, more just society for all.
Thom lays out the ways in which inequality in America has shifted over the last 50 years and identify a handful of sensical, powerful solutions that address these issues at different levels, such as getting money out of politics, addressing social despair and economic inequality, strengthening democratic institutions of governance, and fighting fear.
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| The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment | The Hidden History of the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of America | The Hidden History of the War on Voting | The Hidden History of Monopolies | |
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| The Hidden History Series | Thom Hartmann, the most popular progressive radio host in America and a New York Times bestselling author, looks at the real history of guns in America and what we can do to limit both their lethal impact and the power of the gun lobby. | “Hartmann delivers a full-throated indictment of the U.S. Supreme Court in this punchy polemic."—Publishers Weekly | "Hartmann’s history of voter suppression in America is necessary information given current news about voter registration purges and redistricting...a particularly timely topic for an election year…”—Booklist | “This is the most important, dynamic book on the cancers of monopoly by giant corporations written in our generation.”—from the foreword by Ralph Nader |
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| The Hidden History of American Oligarchy | The Hidden History of American Healthcare | The Hidden History of Big Brother in America | |
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| Price | $14.15$14.15 | $11.27$11.27 | $14.15$14.15 |
| This book looks at the real history of the corrupting influence of oligarchy in America—and how we can fight back. | Hartmann offers a deep dive into the shameful history of American healthcare, showing how greed, racism, and oligarchic corruption led to the current “sickness for profit” system. | America’s most popular progressive radio host and New York Times bestselling author Thom Hartmann reveals how the government and corporate America misuse our personal data and shows how we can reclaim our privacy. |
Editorial Reviews
Review
—John Perkins, New York Times bestselling author of The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
“Historian, legal scholar, and political analyst extraordinaire, Thom Hartmann presents a meticulously documented strategy for trimming the power of nine ideologically motivated political activists unaccountable to the will of the people. Hartmann’s most important and timely book to date.”
—David Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World and Change the Story, Change the Future
“Thom Hartmann’s thoughtful analysis of the history of the Supreme Court provides a clear and actionable blueprint for how champions of principled democracy can work to evolve the court in ways that makes it more responsive, transparent, and accountable.”
—Garlin Gilchrist, Lieutenant Governor, State of Michigan
“Hartmann looks at the Supreme Court today as a tool of the right and their corporate interests. He reminds us that the Declaration of Independence promises ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,’ not ‘property,’ and urges ‘we the people’ to lawfully subject SCOTUS to democratic governance.”
—Harvey J. Kaye, Professor of Democracy and Justice Studies, University of Wisconsin–Green Bay, and author of Thomas Paine and the Promise of America
“Thom Hartmann has created an elegant historical road map that reveals how one of the most influential judicial bodies on the planet evolved into such a powerful and mysterious entity.”
—Mike Papantonio, Host of America’s Lawyer
“Thom Hartmann provides a clear-eyed view of the right-wing assault on the courts -- and a principled vision for restoring justice for the many, not just the few.”
—Lee Fang, investigative journalist
“Thom Hartmann gives fascinating play-by-play coverage of the federal judiciary’s fall from the ‘most harmless branch’ of government to a clear and present danger to liberty and democracy. Do you want to understand how the plutocrats are trying to gavel down on We the People? Read. This. Book.”
—Alan Grayson, former member of Congress
“A brilliant, highly readable account of the least-understood democratic branch of our government, its growing power, and its hijacking by the right, this book is essential reading for anyone who’s concerned with the future of our democracy and the fate of our world.”
—Richard Eskow, writer, journalist, consultant, and broadcaster
“Hartmann has the amazing ability to bring important history to life. His new book is a must-read for people of all political persuasions to understand the history of the Court and its political impact. It is an eye-opener on the betrayal of America and what it means for our future.”
—Bob Ney, Political Analyst, Talk Media News, and former member of Congress
“In a provocative and easy read, Hartmann warns we have ceded enormous political and economic power to the wealthy classes, despite our founding fathers’ intention to place more corrective power in the hands of the electorate.”
—Bill Luther, former member of Congress
“Hartmann once again goes deep to understand the origin of the crisis in the Supreme Court, which didn’t stem from Trump alone. To understand the power of the Court, its dangerously dysfunctional state, and what you can do, read this book.”
—Dahr Jamail, author of The End of Ice
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Berrett-Koehler Publishers (October 1, 2019)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 192 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1523085940
- ISBN-13 : 978-1523085941
- Item Weight : 5.7 ounces
- Dimensions : 4.94 x 0.52 x 7 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #138,555 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #37 in United States Judicial Branch
- #86 in General Constitutional Law
- #423 in History & Theory of Politics
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Thom Hartmann is the four-time Project Censored Award-winning, New York Times best-selling author of 25 books currently in print in over a dozen languages on five continents.
Hartmann is also an internationally known speaker on culture and communications, an author, and an innovator in the fields of psychiatry, ecology, and economics.
The co-founder (with his wife, Louise) and former Executive Director of The New England Salem Children's Village (1978) and The Hunter School (1997), he has led national innovations in the areas of residential treatment for abused children and private/public education for learning-disabled children.
He has helped set up hospitals, famine relief programs, schools, and refugee centers in India, Uganda, Australia, Colombia, Russia, and the United States through the German-based Salem International program. Formerly rostered with the State of Vermont as a psychotherapist, founder of The Michigan Healing Arts Center, and licensed as an NLP Trainer by Richard Bandler (who wrote the foreword to one of Thom's books), he was the originator of the revolutionary "Hunter/Farmer Hypothesis" to understand the psychiatric condition known as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD).
A guest faculty member at Goddard College in Vermont, he also synthesized the "Younger/Older Culture model" for describing the underpinnings - and possible solutions - to the world's ecological and socio-political crises, suggesting that many of our problems are grounded in cultural "stories" which go back thousands of years.
Leonardo DiCaprio was inspired by Thom's book "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight" to make the movie "The 11th Hour" (in which Thom appears), and a series of environmental videos narrated by Hartmann and DiCaprio, available at Green World Rising.
Talkers Magazine named Thom Hartmann as the most important progressive talk show host in America for the past decade, and for three of the past five years the #1 most important progressive host, in their “Heavy Hundred” ranking. His radio show is syndicated on for-profit radio stations nationwide by WYD Media, on non-profit and community stations nationwide by Pacifica, across the entire North American continent on SiriusXM Satellite radio, on cable systems nationwide by Cable Radio Network (CRN) and Free Speech TV, on its own YouTube channel, via subscription podcasts, worldwide through the US American Forces Network, and through the Thom Hartmann App in the App Store. The radio show is also simulcast as TV in realtime into nearly 60 million US and Canadian homes by the Free Speech TV Network on Dish Network, DirectTV, and cable TV systems nationwide.
As an entrepreneur, he's founded several successful businesses which still are operating, and lived and worked with his wife, Louise, and their three (now adult) children on several continents.
He was born and grew up in Michigan, and retains strong ties to the Midwest, although he and Louise have lived in New Hampshire, Vermont, Georgia, Germany, Washington DC, and Oregon.
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Bob Bogner
Author: "Wilder: A Social Justice Phantasy"
Of course, the courts have center-stage here.
Mr. Hartman makes clear, we, our grandchildren, face an "existential crisis" in the form of human-caused global warming. The fossil fuel industry has a role in shaping courts of the 21st century, as they have a role in climate deception and 415 ppm CO2 atmospheric density, and climbing rapidly. Brushing up on the history of our courts should serve well, then, to explain climate deception, in part. Like, how did corporations gain personhood, and how did money in politics become a form of free speech?
Mr. Hartman's writing gets to the critical history many baby boomers ignore.
So, here's an essential book to both remind us and enlighten us for the future.
Buy this book and read it, share it.








