Eras of the Court
Nine chapters, 1789 to today.
I. The Founding Court
1789–1801Washington builds the first bench from scratch. Circuit riding, seriatim opinions, and a Court still inventing its own authority.
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II. The Marshall Court
1801–1835The Great Chief Justice. Judicial review, federal supremacy, and the Court as a co-equal branch — all established here.
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III. The Taney Court
1836–1864Jacksonian democracy meets the slavery crisis. A capable Court remembered for its single catastrophic decision.
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IV. Reconstruction & the Gilded Age
1864–1910The Chase, Waite & Fuller Courts. Reconstruction, the Fourteenth Amendment, Plessy, and the age of industrial capital.
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V. The White & Taft Courts
1910–1930Holmes, Brandeis, and the Progressive Era. Lochner-era constitutionalism at high tide — and the seeds of its undoing.
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VI. Hughes, Stone & Vinson Courts
1930–1953The New Deal collision, the switch in time, World War II, and the gathering storm over segregation.
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VII. The Warren Court
1953–1969The constitutional revolution: Brown, Miranda, one person one vote — the most transformative era in the Court's modern history.
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VIII. Burger & Rehnquist Courts
1969–2005The conservative counter-revolution: federalism revived, the swing-vote era, and judicial philosophy becomes a national conversation.
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IX. The Roberts Court
2005–presentAn institutionally minded Chief navigates the age of polarization — Dobbs, the major questions doctrine, and a six-justice conservative majority.
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