Skip to Main Content (Press Enter)
Dissent and the Supreme Court by Melvin I. Urofsky
Add Dissent and the Supreme Court to bookshelf
Add to Bookshelf

Look Inside

Dissent and the Supreme Court

Its Role in the Court's History and the Nation's Constitutional Dialogue

Its Role in the Court's History and the Nation's Constitutional Dialogue

Its Role in the Court's History and the Nation's Constitutional Dialogue

By Melvin I. Urofsky

By Melvin I. Urofsky

By Melvin I. Urofsky

By Melvin I. Urofsky

By Melvin I. Urofsky
Read by Dan Woren

By Melvin I. Urofsky
Read by Dan Woren

Best Seller
Paperback $18.00

Jan 10, 2017 | ISBN 9780307741325

Ebook $4.99

Oct 13, 2015 | ISBN 9781101870631

Audiobook Download $27.50

Oct 13, 2015 | 1164 Minutes

All Formats
+
    Dissent and the Supreme Court by Melvin I. Urofsky
    Paperback $18.00
    Jan 10, 2017 | ISBN 9780307741325

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    See All Formats (2) +
    • $18.00

      Jan 10, 2017 | ISBN 9780307741325

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Oct 13, 2015 | ISBN 9781101870631

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Oct 13, 2015 | ISBN 9780147525277

      1164 Minutes

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy the Audiobook Download:

    About Dissent and the Supreme Court

    “Highly illuminating … for anyone interested in the Constitution, the Supreme Court, and the American democracy, lawyer and layperson alike.” —The Los Angeles Review of Books

    In his major work, acclaimed historian and judicial authority Melvin Urofsky examines the great dissents throughout the Court’s long history. Constitutional dialogue is one of the ways in which we as a people reinvent and reinvigorate our democratic society. The Supreme Court has interpreted the meaning of the Constitution, acknowledged that the Court’s majority opinions have not always been right, and initiated a critical discourse about what a particular decision should mean before fashioning subsequent decisions—largely through the power of dissent.
     
    Urofsky shows how the practice grew slowly but steadily, beginning with the infamous and now overturned case of Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) during which Chief Justice Roger Taney’s opinion upheld slavery and ending with the present age of incivility, in which reasoned dialogue seems less and less possible. Dissent on the court and off, Urofsky argues in this major work, has been a crucial ingredient in keeping the Constitution alive and must continue to be so.

    About Dissent and the Supreme Court

    “Highly illuminating … for anyone interested in the Constitution, the Supreme Court, and the American democracy, lawyer and layperson alike.” —The Los Angeles Review of Books

    In his major work, acclaimed historian and judicial authority Melvin Urofsky examines the great dissents throughout the Court’s long history. Constitutional dialogue is one of the ways in which we as a people reinvent and reinvigorate our democratic society. The Supreme Court has interpreted the meaning of the Constitution, acknowledged that the Court’s majority opinions have not always been right, and initiated a critical discourse about what a particular decision should mean before fashioning subsequent decisions—largely through the power of dissent.
     
    Urofsky shows how the practice grew slowly but steadily, beginning with the infamous and now overturned case of Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) during which Chief Justice Roger Taney’s opinion upheld slavery and ending with the present age of incivility, in which reasoned dialogue seems less and less possible. Dissent on the court and off, Urofsky argues in this major work, has been a crucial ingredient in keeping the Constitution alive and must continue to be so.

    About Dissent and the Supreme Court

    From the admired judicial authority, author of Louis D. Brandeis (“Remarkable”—Anthony Lewis, The New York Review of Books; “Monumental”—Alan M. Dershowitz, The New York Times Book Review), Division and Discord, and Supreme Decisions—Melvin Urofsky’s major new book looks at the role of dissent in the Supreme Court and the meaning of the Constitution through the greatest and longest lasting public-policy debate in the country’s history, among members of the Supreme Court, between the Court and the other branches of government, and between the Court and the people of the United States.
     
    Urofsky writes of the necessity of constitutional dialogue as one of the ways in which we as a people reinvent and reinvigorate our democratic society. In Dissent and the Supreme Court, he explores the great dissents throughout the Court’s 225-year history. He discusses in detail the role the Supreme Court has played in helping to define what the Constitution means, how the Court’s majority opinions have not always been right, and how the dissenters, by positing alternative interpretations, have initiated a critical dialogue about what a particular decision should mean. This dialogue is sometimes resolved quickly; other times it may take decades before the Court adjusts its position. Louis Brandeis’s dissenting opinion about wiretapping became the position of the Court four decades after it was written. The Court took six decades to adopt the dissenting opinion of the first Justice John Harlan in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)—that segregation on the basis of race violated the Constitution—in Brown v. Board of Education (1954).
     
    Urofsky shows that the practice of dissent grew slowly but steadily and that in the nineteenth century dissents became more frequent. In the (in)famous case of Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857), Chief Justice Roger Taney’s opinion upheld slavery, declaring that blacks could never be citizens. The justice received intense condemnations from several of his colleagues, but it took a civil war and three constitutional amendments before the dissenting view prevailed and Dred Scott was overturned.
     
    Urofsky looks as well at the many aspects of American constitutional life that were affected by the Earl Warren Court—free speech, race, judicial appointment, and rights of the accused—and shows how few of these decisions were unanimous, and how the dissents in the earlier cases molded the results of later decisions; how with Roe v. Wade—the Dred Scott of the modern era—dissent fashioned subsequent decisions, and how, in the Court, a dialogue that began with the dissents in Roe has shaped every decision since.
     
    Urofsky writes of the rise of conservatism and discusses how the resulting appointments of more conservative jurists to the bench put the last of the Warren liberals—William Brennan and Thurgood Marshall—in increasingly beleaguered positions, and in the minority. He discusses the present age of incivility, in which reasoned dialogue seems less and less possible. Yet within the Marble Palace, the members of the Supreme Court continue to hear arguments, vote, and draft majority opinions, while the minority continues to “respectfully dissent.” The Framers understood that if a constitution doesn’t grow and adapt, it atrophies and dies, and if it does, so does the democratic society it has supported. Dissent—on the Court and off, Urofsky argues—has been a crucial ingredient in keeping the Constitution alive and must continue to be so.

    (With black-and-white illustrations throughout.)

    Read An Excerpt

    Read An Excerpt

    Read An Excerpt

    Listen to a sample from Dissent and the Supreme Court

    Also by Melvin I. Urofsky

    The Affirmative Action Puzzle
    Louis D. Brandeis
    See all books by Melvin I. Urofsky

    Also by Melvin I. Urofsky

    The Affirmative Action Puzzle
    Louis D. Brandeis
    See all books by Melvin I. Urofsky

    Also by Melvin I. Urofsky

    The Affirmative Action Puzzle
    Louis D. Brandeis
    See all books by Melvin I. Urofsky

    About Melvin I. Urofsky

    MELVIN I. UROFSKY is a professor emeritus of history at Virginia Commonwealth University and was the chair of its history department. He is the editor (with David W. Levy) of the five-volume collection of Louis Brandeis’s letters, as well as… More about Melvin I. Urofsky

    About Melvin I. Urofsky

    MELVIN I. UROFSKY is a professor emeritus of history at Virginia Commonwealth University and was the chair of its history department. He is the editor (with David W. Levy) of the five-volume collection of Louis Brandeis’s letters, as well as… More about Melvin I. Urofsky

    About Melvin I. Urofsky

    MELVIN I. UROFSKY is a professor emeritus of history at Virginia Commonwealth University and was the chair of its history department. He is the editor (with David W. Levy) of the five-volume collection of Louis Brandeis’s letters, as well as… More about Melvin I. Urofsky

    Product Details

    Category: Domestic Politics

    Paperback | $18.00
    Published by Vintage
    Jan 10, 2017 | 544 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780307741325

    Category: Domestic Politics

    Ebook | $4.99
    Published by Schocken
    Oct 13, 2015 | 544 Pages | ISBN 9781101870631

    Category: Domestic Politics | Audiobooks

    Audiobook Download | $27.50
    Published by Random House Audio
    Oct 13, 2015 | 1164 Minutes | ISBN 9780147525277

    YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

    Praise

    “Ambitious . . . Urofsky’s extraordinarily careful analysis and sense of historical depth make ‘Dissent and the Supreme Court’ an important book, one that explores some of the most significant dissents in the history of that institution . . .riveting . . . Indeed, his book can serve as a guide, a way of determining what constitutes a really fine and compelling dissent.” —Dahlia Lithwick, New York Times Book Review

    “One of the nation’s great legal historians . . . masterfully recounts the history of dissent on the court, from its early days, when dissents were rare and strongly discouraged, to the modern era, when they often outnumbered majority opinions.” —David Cole, The Washington Post

    “Balanced, and highly illuminating . . . For anyone interested in the Constitution, the Supreme Court, and the American democracy, lawyer and layperson alike . . . An intriguing account . . . A significant contribution to our understanding of the Supreme Court and the Constitution.” —Stephen Rohde, The Los Angeles Review of Books

    “A wide-ranging and intriguing study of how the justices of the United States Supreme Court have dissented from majority opinions and how we should think about them . . . Invaluable . . . Creative and well-researched.” —Linda Przybyszewski, American Journal of Legal History
     
    “Brilliant . . . Urofsky’s expertise as a historian and student of the Supreme Court brings depth and richness to his treatment of this fascinating subject . . . A good read for those who find the workings of the Court of special interest.” —Ronald Goldfarb, Washington Lawyer
     
    “Incisive . . . Dissent and the Supreme Court traces the dissent’s noble history and shows how many of the most important protections of American society – free speech, racial equality, individual liberty – began their lives as dissents pushing back against a court that was not yet ready to hear them.” —Joshua J. Friedman, Columbia Magazine
     
    “A welcome perspective on a vibrant, ongoing constitutional dialogue.” —Publishers Weekly

    Looking for More Great Reads?
    21 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read

    Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network

    Raise kids who love to read

    Brightly

    Raise kids who love to read

    Today's Top Books

    Today's Top Books

    Want to know what people are actually reading right now?

         An online magazine for today’s home cook

    TASTE

    An online magazine for today’s home cook