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Full-Text Articles in Courts
The Court Years, 1939-1975: The Autobiography Of William O. Douglas, James E. Bond
The Court Years, 1939-1975: The Autobiography Of William O. Douglas, James E. Bond
Faculty Articles
This article is a book review that highlights William O. Douglas’s character and temperament, and suggests these very traits made his legacy on the Court a disappointment. Arguing that Douglas was uncommitted to judicial craft and simply championed cases close to his heart. The article bemoans Douglas’s lack of insight into constitutional adjudication, while noting the volumes anecdotal humor, the article cites the autobiography’s disingenuousness as cause to call it a work of fiction.
The Perils Of Judicial Statesmanship, James E. Bond
The Perils Of Judicial Statesmanship, James E. Bond
Faculty Articles
This article addresses the issue of what is fit for a Supreme Court Justice to do and whether the Court is acting within its constitutional authority. The United States is a democratic republic in which power flows from the people to elected representatives who remain answerable to the people. By contrast, the Justices sit for life and answer to no one. The Court is thus a profoundly antidemocratic institution. When and how the Court ought to exercise its anti-democratic authority is the only enduring important question in American constitutional law.