Shelf 3 of 8 · Age by Age

Eras & Turning Points

The Court age by age — the Holmes Devise volumes that are the standard history of each era, the New Deal collision, the Warren revolution, and the reference handbooks to individual Courts.

The reading list — 66 books

White, G. Edward. The Marshall Court and Cultural Change, 1815–1835 (Holmes Devise; abridged ed.). 1991.

Swisher, Carl B. The Taney Period, 1836–64 (Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court, vol. 5). 1974.

Fairman, Charles. Reconstruction and Reunion, 1864–88, Part One (Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court, vol. 6). 1971.

Fiss, Owen M. Troubled Beginnings of the Modern State, 1888–1910 (Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court, vol. 8). 1993.

Bickel, Alexander M., and Benno C. Schmidt Jr. The Judiciary and Responsible Government, 1910–1921 (Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court, vol. 9). 1984.

Post, Robert C. The Taft Court: Making Law for a Divided Nation, 1921–1930 (Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court, vol. 10). 2024.

Leuchtenburg, William E. The Supreme Court Reborn: The Constitutional Revolution in the Age of Roosevelt. 1995.

Shesol, Jeff. Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court. 2010.

Powe, Lucas A., Jr. The Warren Court and American Politics. 2000.

Horwitz, Morton J. The Warren Court and the Pursuit of Justice. 1998.

Ely, James W., Jr. The Chief Justiceship of Melville W. Fuller, 1888–1910. 1995.

Casto, William R. The Supreme Court in the Early Republic: The Chief Justiceships of John Jay and Oliver Ellsworth. 1995.

Renstrom, Peter G. The Stone Court: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy. 2001.

Stephenson, Donald Grier, Jr. The Waite Court: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy. 2003.

McGinty, Brian. Lincoln and the Court. 2008.

Silver, David M. Lincoln’s Supreme Court. 1956.

Haines, Charles Grove. The Role of the Supreme Court in American Government and Politics, 1789–1835. 1944.

Goebel, Julius, Jr. Antecedents and Beginnings to 1801 (Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court, vol. 1). 1971.

Tushnet, Mark V. The Hughes Court: From Progressivism to Pluralism, 1930–1941 (Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court, vol. 11). 2022.

Urofsky, Melvin I. Division and Discord: The Supreme Court under Stone and Vinson, 1941–1953. 1997.

Alsop, Joseph, and Turner Catledge. The 168 Days. 1938.

Barnes, William Horatio. The Supreme Court of the United States: A Series of Biographies. 1877.

Baker, Leonard. Back to Back: The Duel between FDR and the Supreme Court. 1967.

Bailey, Mark Warren. Guardians of the Moral Order: The Legal Philosophy of the Supreme Court, 1860–1910. 2004.

Bickel, Alexander M. The Supreme Court and the Idea of Progress. 1970.

Baxter, Maurice G. Daniel Webster and the Supreme Court. 1966.

Belknap, Michal R. The Supreme Court under Earl Warren, 1953–1969. 2005.

Corwin, Edward S. The Twilight of the Supreme Court: A History of Our Constitutional Theory. 1934.

Cox, Archibald. The Warren Court: Constitutional Decision as an Instrument of Reform. 1968.

Wiecek, William M. The Birth of the Modern Constitution: The United States Supreme Court, 1941–1953 (Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court, vol. 12). 2006.

Haskins, George Lee, and Herbert A. Johnson. Foundations of Power: John Marshall, 1801–15 (Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court, vol. 2). 1981.

Haines, Charles Grove, and Foster H. Sherwood. The Role of the Supreme Court in American Government and Politics, 1835–1864. 1957.

Huebner, Timothy S. The Taney Court: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy. 2003.

Kutler, Stanley I. Judicial Power and Reconstruction Politics. 1968.

Lasser, William. The Limits of Judicial Power: The Supreme Court in American Politics. 1988.

Lurie, Jonathan. The Chase Court: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy. 2004.

Parrish, Michael E. The Hughes Court: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy. 2002.

Mason, Alpheus Thomas. The Supreme Court from Taft to Burger. 1979.

Pearson, Drew, and Robert S. Allen. The Nine Old Men. 1936.

McCune, Wesley. The Nine Young Men. 1947.

McKenna, Marian C. Franklin Roosevelt and the Great Constitutional War: The Court-Packing Crisis of 1937. 2002.

Newmyer, R. Kent. The Supreme Court under Marshall and Taney. 1968.

Pritchett, C. Herman. Civil Liberties and the Vinson Court. 1954.

Renstrom, Peter G. The Taft Court: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy. 2003.

Pusey, Merlo J. The Supreme Court Crisis. 1937.

Schwartz, Bernard, ed. The Warren Court: A Retrospective. 1996.

Tushnet, Mark, ed. The Warren Court in Historical and Political Perspective. 1993.

Ratner, Sidney. Was the Supreme Court Packed by President Grant?. 1935.

Nelson, Michael. Vaulting Ambition: FDR's Campaign to Pack the Supreme Court. 2023.

Sloan, Cliff. The Court at War: FDR, His Justices, and the World They Made. 2023.

Kalman, Laura. FDR's Gambit: The Court Packing Fight and the Rise of Legal Liberalism. 2022.

James, Rawn, Jr. The Truman Court: Law and the Limits of Loyalty. 2021.

Maltz, Earl M. The Coming of the Nixon Court: The 1972 Term and the Transformation of Constitutional Law. 2016.

Kens, Paul. The Supreme Court under Morrison R. Waite, 1874–1888. 2010.

Harrington, Matthew P. Jay and Ellsworth, The First Courts: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy. 2008.

Ross, William G. The Chief Justiceship of Charles Evans Hughes, 1930-1941. 2007.

Hensley, Thomas R., Kathleen Hale, and Carl Snook. The Rehnquist Court: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy. 2006.

Maveety, Nancy. Queen's Court: Judicial Power in the Rehnquist Era. 2008.

Maltz, Earl M. Slavery and the Supreme Court, 1825-1861. 2009.

Allen, Austin. Origins of the Dred Scott Case: Jacksonian Jurisprudence and the Supreme Court, 1837-1857. 2006.

Shogan, Robert. Backlash: The Killing of the New Deal. 2006.

Solomon, Burt. FDR v. the Constitution: The Court-Packing Fight and the Triumph of Democracy. 2009.

Goldstone, Lawrence. Inherently Unequal: The Betrayal of Equal Rights by the Supreme Court, 1865-1903. 2011.

Lichtman, Robert M. The Supreme Court and McCarthy-Era Repression: One Hundred Decisions. 2012.

Belknap, Michal R. The Supreme Court and Criminal Procedure: The Warren Court Revolution. 2011.

McMahon, Kevin J. Nixon's Court: His Challenge to Judicial Liberalism and Its Political Consequences. 2011.

Also listed in the JSCH Index: 22 further works

Works listed under this heading in the JSCH Index that have not been read for these pages. Each is given as cited there, with a note on where a copy can be had; none carries a review.

  1. Belz, Herman. “The Supreme Court and Constitutional Responsibility in the Civil War Era.” Journal of Supreme Court History 21 (Special Edition 1996): 5–8.[Print]
  2. Biela, Leon Julius. “How to Avoid Dictatorship: The Public Debate Over Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Court-packing Plan and Its International Context.” Journal of Supreme Court History 49, no. 1 (2024): 26–48.[Free online] Read it →
  3. Currie, David P. “The New Deal Court in the 1940s: Its Constitutional Legacy.” Journal of Supreme Court History 22, no. 1 (1997): 87–98.[Free online] Read it →
  4. Cushman, Barry. “Court-Packing in Context.” Journal of Supreme Court History 48, no. 2 (2023): 174–214.[Free online] Read it →
  5. Danelski, David J. “The Saboteurs’ Case.” Journal of Supreme Court History 21, no. 1 (1996): 61–82.[Free online] Read it →
  6. Ely, James W., Jr. “Property Rights and the Supreme Court in World War II.” Journal of Supreme Court History 21, no. 1 (1996): 19–34.[Free online] Read it →
  7. Ely, James W., Jr. “The Contract Clause during the Civil War and Reconstruction.” Journal of Supreme Court History 41, no. 3 (2016): 257–274.[Free online] Read it →
  8. Ely, James W., Jr. “The Supreme Court and Property Rights in the Progressive Era.” Journal of Supreme Court History 44, no. 1 (2019): 53–70.[Free online] Read it →
  9. Freyer, Tony A. “The First Amendment and World War II.” Journal of Supreme Court History 21, no. 1 (1996): 83–104.[Free online] Read it →
  10. Gardner, Warner W. “Court Packing: The Drafting Recalled.” Journal of Supreme Court History 15 (1990): 99–103.[Free online] Read it →
  11. Hamilton, Daniel W. “A New Right to Property: Civil War Confiscation in the Reconstruction Supreme Court.” Journal of Supreme Court History 29, no. 3 (2004): 254–285.[Free online] Read it →
  12. Kramer, Larry. “Federalism in Antebellum America: The View From the North.” Journal of Supreme Court History 21 (Special Edition 1996): 15–21.[Print]
  13. Leuchtenburg, William E. “F. D. R.’s Court-Packing Plan: A Second Life, A Second Death.” Supreme Court Historical Society Yearbook 1988: 78–90.[Print]
  14. Lightner, David L. “The Supreme Court and the Interstate Slave Trade: A Study in Evasion, Anarchy, and Extremism.” Journal of Supreme Court History 29, no. 3 (2004): 229–253.[Free online] Read it →
  15. Neely, Mark E., Jr. “Justice Embattled: The Lincoln Administration and the Constitutional Controversy Over Conscription in 1863.” Journal of Supreme Court History 21 (Special Edition 1996): 47–61.[Print]
  16. Rauh, Joseph L., Jr. “A Personalized View of the Court-Packing Episode.” Journal of Supreme Court History 15 (1990): 93–98.[Free online] Read it →
  17. Sheehan, Charles J. “Kumezo Kawaato and ‘Justice Court.’” Journal of Supreme Court History 45, no. 2 (2020): 194–206.[Free online] Read it →
  18. Silverman, Leon. “Introduction: The Supreme Court in the Civil War.” Journal of Supreme Court History 21 (Special Edition 1996): 1–4.[Print]
  19. Sloan, Cliff. “A ‘Barefoot’ Lawyer and the Supreme Court During World War II: Schneiderman v. United States.” Journal of Supreme Court History 49, no. 2 (2024): 170–185.[Free online] Read it →
  20. Stern, Robert L. “The Court-Packing Plan and the Commerce Clause.” Supreme Court Historical Society Yearbook 1988: 91–97.[Print]
  21. Urofsky, Melvin I. “Myth and Reality: The Supreme Court and Protective Legislation in the Progressive Era.” Supreme Court Historical Society Yearbook 1983: 53–72.[Print]
  22. White, Jonathan W. “The Lincoln Administration and the Supreme Court during the Civil War: A Letter by Attorney General Edward Bates.” Journal of Supreme Court History 37, no. 3 (2012): 261–265.[Free online] Read it →
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