The Judicial Bookshelf

A well‐established fact of American government is the unpredictability of vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court. Representatives and Senators face voters every two and six years, respectively. A President serves for four years and may be reelected only once. Justices, however, do not sit for fixed terms and in effect enjoy life tenure. After his inauguration as the forty‐third president in January 2001, George W. Bush had no opportunity to make a High Court appointment until he was well into his second term when, on July 1, 2005, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her intention to leave the Bench. ¹ By contrast, the forty‐fourth President encountered his first High Court vacancy much sooner, and in his first term, as Justice David Hackett Souter notified the Obama White House on May 1, 2009, of his intention to retire from “regular active service as a Justice” when the Court recessed for the summer. ²     

Tribute to William H. Rehnquist

The casket was plain unvarnished pine, and over it was draped the American flag. As my fellow Rehnquist clerks and I carried that casket up the marble steps of the Supreme Court building, to the Great Hall, it occurred to a number of us that this was very fitting. For Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist was direct, straightforward, utterly without pretense—and a patriot who loved and served his country.     

The Judicial Bookshelf

Laments about federal judges, Supreme Court Justices in particular, are nearly as old as the Republic. Those who say otherwise perhaps have either poor memories or a need to read more history. True, the Court has not been continuously caught up in strife, but controversies have occurred often enough to make Court-bashing a routine part of American political life.     

Writing the First Draft of History: Anthony Lewis as Supreme Court Correspondent

The legendary Washington Bureau Chief and columnist of The New York Times , James Reston, with a push from Felix Frankfurter, decided that the paper of record would have its own correspondent specializing in the Supreme Court. ¹ With his eye for excellent young talent, ² Reston chose Anthony Lewis, already a Pulitzer-Prize winner before his thirtieth birthday, ³ and sent him to Harvard for the 1956–57 academic year as a Nieman Fellow to study law.     

The Origin of the Baseball Antitrust Exemption: Federal Baseball Club of Baltimore, Inc. v. National League of Professional Baseball Clubs

It is a pleasure to have the chance to speak to you this afternoon. It was back in December, if I recall correctly, when I finally decided on the topic of the talk that I am going to give this afternoon. It was a dark, cold day. I knew that the date of the speech was June 2[, 2008]. That brought to mind thoughts of spring. Thoughts of spring brought to mind thoughts of baseball. And thoughts of baseball brought to mind the case that I am going to talk about: Federal Baseball Club of Baltimore, Inc. v. National League of Professional Baseball Clubs , ¹ a unanimous decision handed down by the Court on May 29, 1922—86 years ago last Thursday.     

(Re)introducing Wiley Rutledge

With the rarest of exceptions, when Supreme Court Justices leave the Court, they are soon all but forgotten. ¹ Constitutional law is unrelentingly presentist, so closely intertwined with politics and society that sitting (or recently departed) Justices necessarily speak to the issues more directly than those from another era. If that were not enough, being forgotten is virtually inevitable for those whose careers are short. One of those men was Wiley Rutledge who served from February 1943 until his death at age 55 from a cerebral hemorrhage, six and a half years later. Until John M. Ferren's recently published and marvelously researched Salt of the Earth, Conscience of the Court , ² Rutledge even lacked a true biography. ³ That has been a shame, because the two dominant themes of Ferren's book show that Rutledge is worth knowing: He was a good man and a good judge. Indeed, on what probably was the most fractious Court in American history, ⁴ Rutledge was the sole member both personally liked and intellectually respected by every other member. ⁵     

The Judicial Bookshelf

Decisions by the Supreme Court that are accorded "landmark" status are chiefly remembered for their holdings and effects. Such cases are also typically linked to a particular era of judicial history, as Marbury v. Madison ¹ was to the Marshall Court and Jefferson's presidency, as Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer ² was to the Vinson Court and Truman's presidency, and as Miranda v. Arizona ³ was to the Warren Court and the tumultuous 1960s. But probably only serious students of the Court will recall that Marbury was decided in 1803, Youngstown in 1952, and Miranda in 1966. And fewer still will know, without first consulting a reference, that Marbury came down on February 24, the Steel Seizure Case on June 2, and Miranda on June 13. Scholars typically associate decisions with years, not the day of the month.