Description
For courses on judicial process, the Supreme Court, constitutional law, and American government. With the retirements of several liberal justices, the Supreme Court has taken historic steps under the leadership of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. This new edition takes account of these significant changes and how they affect the Court and American society. David M. O'Brien again shows students how the Supreme Court is a "storm center" of political controversy"the least dangerous branch" of government where personality, politics, law, and justice come together to shape and often change drastically the society in which they live.
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The sixth edition of O'Brien's (government and foreign affairs, U. of Virginia) student-oriented text incorporates additional materials from the papers made available at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library since publication of the fifth edition in 2000. It also includes new research on how changes in the Court's composition affect its internal operations, including updated discussions of the Court's growing docket and the justices' workload, conferences, oral argument sessions, agenda setting, decision-making processes, and opinion-writing practices. Expanded coverage of the Court's relation to public opinion, critical elections, and partisan realignments is provided, and more emphasis is placed on the politics of judicial policy-making and the institutional constraints and restraints on achieving implementation and compliance with its rulings. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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