Keith E. Whittington is William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics at Princeton University. His many books include Political Foundations of Judicial Supremacy, Speak Freely, and, also from Kansas, Constitutional Interpretation.
"Whittington presents an extraordinarily comprehensive evaluation
of the Supreme Court's choices to invalidate or uphold federal
legislation throughout US history."--Perspectives on Politics"An
impressive piece of scholarship that provides a comprehensive
account of how the Supreme Court has used judicial review for
multiple purposes, not merely check congressional power but also to
constitute it."--Political Science Quarterly"Repugnant Laws is a
groundbreaking work, and the data on which it is based will prove
invaluable to scholars of judicial politics. Whittington also
deserves much credit for pointing the way toward a more nuanced
understanding of the Supreme Court's relationship to political
parties and electoral coalitions."--Constitutional
Commentary"Readers will get a strong sense of the key issues on
which judicial review turned across the eras of U.S. political
history, as well as the policy goals and political conflicts that
animated Congress in the first place."--Journal of
Interdisciplinary History>"Repugnant Laws stands as a helpful
corrective to the partisan narratives of both sides--and is sure to
set the standard for books of its kind for decades to come."--The
American Interest"An impressively thorough, empirical study of
judicial review, from the founding to the Supreme Court's 2017
term. The book makes for rewarding reading."--Claremont Review of
Books"Whittington here offers a thorough rejoinder to the
often-repeated notion that the Supreme Court's exercise of judicial
review is counter majoritarian. He also offers novel and
thought-provoking analyses of famous cases, placing them in new
light. There may be no better time to seek a fuller understanding
of how judicial independence (whether in the form of activism or
otherwise) can arise in different forms. Wthittington's book is
sure to inform those discussions. Highly recommended."--Choice
"As contemporary judicial selection politics amplify the urgency of
discussions regarding judicial activism, the Court's legitimacy,
and the relationship between party and judicial office,
Whittington's study reminds readers that the Supreme Court has long
acted as a nation-builder and an arm of the national state,
operating within partisan politics. In stressing 'the conditional
quality of judicial independence, ' Whittington offers the counsel
of perspective on our current era of partisan polarization and
strained inter-branch relations."--Nancy Maveety, author of Queen's
Court: Judicial Power in the Rehnquist Era"Keith Whittington's
invaluable and comprehensive survey of Supreme Court decisions
striking down&#mdash;and upholding--federal statutes carefully
maps the complex relations between the Court and the political
coalitions that produce, support, or sometimes abandon the laws the
Court reviews. Bringing insights from American political
development to bear, Whittington has supplanted Robert Dahl's
classic work while preserving its core. Everyone interested in
American political development and the Supreme Court must now take
this work into account."--Mark Tushnet, William Nelson Cromwell
Professor of Law, Harvard Law School"Any book by Keith Whittington
is an important book, and this one is no exception. Facts matter
and this book provides them. From now on, no discussion of the
practice of judicial review can ignore its empirical findings. The
most cynical political scientist will need to come to grips with
its conclusion that 'the justices are not lapdogs, and they have
often bitten the hand of the party that put them on the bench.' At
the same time, idealists will need to incorporate its findings that
the 'justices have proven themselves to be allies of [their]
political coalition leaders.' Simply a must-read for any serious
student of our Constitution and how it actually works."--Randy E.
Barnett, director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution;
author of Our Republican Constitution: Securing the Liberty and
Sovereignty of We the People
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