Elite, personable, and persuasive, Edward Douglass White, a ‘‘large and bearish man from Louisiana,’’ served on the United States Supreme Court for twenty-seven years. During his tenure, first as an associate justice (1894–1910) and then as the ninth chief justice (1910–1921), White significantly influenced American public law. Robert Highsaw’ s extensive judicial biography stresses White’s constitutional thought and philosophy. Several chapters discuss his early years in Louisiana, his training in Jesuit schools there and at Georgetown University, and his early legal career in New Orleans. The emphasis, however, remains on White’s theories and applications of the judicial and constitutional processes. Edward Douglass White “1ooked upon the American constitutional system as a model for a well-ordered society that must be preserved.” White’s concept of a federal system in which the national and state governments each operated within a defined sphere of powers underlay many of his opinions. White considered farm issues that developed after the closing of the western frontier, economic issues precipitated by a growing laboring class, and tense political issues of civil liberties that emerged during World War I. He played an important part in developing administrative law and was, perhaps, most responsible for strengthening dual federalism of commerce and taxing powers. His pragmatism, evidenced in the Insular cases where his doctrine of “incorporated” and “unincorporated” territories, synthesized American constitutional law with the political reality of American imperialism. White was a conservative, but unlike the conservative justices of the 1920s and 1930s whose intransigence produced the judicial revolution of 1937, he saw that injury to the Constitution might result from its consistent use as a barrier to social progress. Significantly, Edward Douglass White demonstrates that “the judicial revolution of 1937 and the ensuing decades of the Court’s history are meaningless unless we know what happened fifty or so years earlier.”
Celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, Robert McCloskey’s classic work on the Supreme Court’s role in constructing the U.S. Constitution has introduced generations of students to the workings of our nation’s highest court. For this new fifth edition, Sanford Levinson extends McCloskey’s magisterial treatment to address the Court’s most recent decisions. As in prior editions, McCloskey’s original text remains unchanged. In his historical interpretation, he argues that the strength of the Court has always been its sensitivity to the changing political scene, as well as its reluctance to stray too far from the main currents of public sentiments. In two revised chapters, Levinson shows how McCloskey’s approach continues to illuminate developments since 2005, including the Court’s decisions in cases arising out of the War on Terror, which range from issues of civil liberty to tests of executive power. He also discusses the Court’s skepticism regarding campaign finance regulation; its affirmation of the right to bear arms; and the increasingly important nomination and confirmation process of Supreme Court justices, including that of the first Hispanic justice, Sonia Sotomayor. The best and most concise account of the Supreme Court and its place in American politics, McCloskey's wonderfully readable book is an essential guide to the past, present, and future prospects of this institution.
Everett C. Hughes had a great impact on the field of sociology as a whole and on an entire generation of sociologists. Some of Hughes' former students and colleagues honor him in this book. The essays address the main themes in his work over the years, and illustrate as well Hughes' impact on the contributors, many of whom are themselves senior figures in the field. The book as a whole provides a distinguished and representative sampling of a major stream of contemporary sociological thought. Each of the five main divisions in the book covers one aspect of Hughes' work. The first deals with the study of occupations and professions-a field in which Hughes was a leader. The second section deals with race relations and other situations in which peoples of differing cultures meet. Beginning with his own work in French Canada many years ago, Hughes interests spread, and the breadth of this interest is seen in chapters on India, Peru, and race relations in the United States. Problems of organizations-how they are put together and how they work-are contained in a third section. A fourth section reflects Hughes' interest in the impact of institutional experience on the people who participate in social institutions, and includes chapters on occupational socialization, status passage, and the use of drugs. A final section develops still another of Hughes' interests-social science method. Presenting some of the most important topics of contemporary theory and research, this book remains profitable reading for every member of the discipline
The transformation of the American South--from authoritarian to democratic rule--is the most important political development since World War II. It has re-sorted voters into parties, remapped presidential elections, and helped polarize Congress. Most important, it is the final step in America's democratization. Paths Out of Dixie illuminates this sea change by analyzing the democratization experiences of Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina. Robert Mickey argues that Southern states, from the 1890s until the early 1970s, constituted pockets of authoritarian rule trapped within and sustained by a federal democracy. These enclaves--devoted to cheap agricultural labor and white supremacy--were established by conservative Democrats to protect their careers and clients. From the abolition of the whites-only Democratic primary in 1944 until the national party reforms of the early 1970s, enclaves were battered and destroyed by a series of democratization pressures from inside and outside their borders. Drawing on archival research, Mickey traces how Deep South rulers--dissimilar in their internal conflict and political institutions--varied in their responses to these challenges. Ultimately, enclaves differed in their degree of violence, incorporation of African Americans, and reconciliation of Democrats with the national party. These diverse paths generated political and economic legacies that continue to reverberate today. Focusing on enclave rulers, their governance challenges, and the monumental achievements of their adversaries, Paths Out of Dixie shows how the struggles of the recent past have reshaped the South and, in so doing, America's political development.
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