The Supreme Court and the American Elite, 1789-2020 - Hardcover

by Lucas A. Powe (Author)

The Supreme Court and the American Elite, 1789-2020, Expanded Second Edition is a history of the Court placed within the context of a broader history of the United States and its politics. In contrast to a typical book on US history--where the Supreme Court appears, if at all, as an interruption here and there--or, in a typical history of the Supreme Court, where political events intrude occasionally, Lucas A. Powe, Jr., situates the Court and its work into a broad narrative of American history. Powe places the Court within the context of history and the insights of political science while remaining true to the ways the justices perceived their own work. Instead of viewing the Court as a competitor with the other two branches of government (although occasionally it is), Powe views it as a part of a ruling regime doing its part to implement the regime's policies. Some of its most historically controversial decisions are far less so when set within the politics of the time. Justices are, after all, as subject to the same economic, social, and intellectual currents as other upper-middle-class professional elites.