Overview

The Warren Court of the 1950s and 1960s was the most liberal in American history. Yet within a few short years, new appointments redirected the Court in a more conservative direction, a trend that continued for decades. However, even after Warren retired and the makeup of the court changed, his Court cast a shadow that extends to our own era. In The Long Reach of the Sixties, Laura Kalman focuses on the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Presidents Johnson and Nixon attempted to dominate the Court and alter its course. Using newly released--and consistently entertaining--recordings of Lyndon Johnson's and Richard Nixon's telephone conversations, she roots their efforts to mold the Court in their desire to protect their Presidencies. The fierce ideological battles--between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches--that ensued transformed the meaning of the Warren Court in American memory. Despite the fact that the Court's decisions generally reflected public opinion, the surrounding debate calcified the image of the Warren Court as activist and liberal. Abe Fortas's embarrassing fall and Nixon's campaign against liberal justices helped make the term ""activist Warren Court"" totemic for liberals and conservatives alike. The fear of a liberal court has changed the appointment process forever, Kalman argues. Drawing from sources in the Ford, Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton presidential libraries, as well as the justices' papers, she shows how the desire to avoid another Warren Court has politicized appointments by an order of magnitude. Among other things, presidents now almost never nominate politicians as Supreme Court justices (another response to Warren, who had been the governor of California). Sophisticated, lively, and attuned to the ironies of history, The Long Reach of the Sixties is essential reading for all students of the modern Court and U.S. political history.

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9780199958221

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Reviews

Not all legal history is as readable as this, nor is it as crisply argued without turgid legalese... The author successfully locates the nexus between legal and political history and makes a compelling case for the period in question being a clear and vital turning point. Kalman presents an accessible, lucid brief on how our Supreme Court appointment system became the mess that it is. --Kirkus Reviews.. . powerfully argued and timely... A masterly melding of history, legal history, and political science... --Library Journal, starred review -Not all legal history is as readable as this, nor is it as crisply argued without turgid legalese... The author successfully locates the nexus between legal and political history and makes a compelling case for the period in question being a clear and vital turning point. Kalman presents an accessible, lucid brief on how our Supreme Court appointment system became the mess that it is.- --Kirkus Reviews

Not all legal history is as readable as this, nor is it as crisply argued without turgid legalese... The author successfully locates the nexus between legal and political history and makes a compelling case for the period in question being a clear and vital turning point. Kalman presents an accessible, lucid brief on how our Supreme Court appointment system became the mess that it is. --Kirkus Reviews

Kalman deftly argues that confirmation hearings with little substance, nominees selected exclusively from Harvard and Yale, and the heavy emphasis on past judicial experience are a direct consequence of the lessons presidents have learned from this critical period. --C. Shortell, CHOICE [E]ngagingly written....Rich in detail and peppered with intriguing insights, Kalman's study will benefit legal historians, political scientists, court watchers, and others who find themselves wondering what history can teach us about the politics of the present. --Amanda Hollis-Brusky, The Chronicle of Higher Education Not all legal history is as readable as this, nor is it as crisply argued without turgid legalese...The author successfully locates the nexus between legal and political history and makes a compelling case for the period in question being a clear and vital turning point. Kalman presents an accessible, lucid brief on how our Supreme Court appointment system became the mess that it is. --Kirkus Reviews [P]owerfully argued and timely....A masterly melding of history, legal history, and political science... --Library Journal, starred review Rich in detail and peppered with intriguing insights, Kalman's study will benefit legal historians, political scientists, court watchers, and others who find themselves wondering what history can teach us about the politics of the present. --The Chronicle Review [E]ngagingly written....Rich in detail and peppered with intriguing insights, Kalman's study will benefit legal historians, political scientists, court watchers, and others who find themselves wondering what history can teach us about the politics of the present. --Amanda Hollis-Brusky, The Chronicle of Higher Education Not all legal history is as readable as this, nor is it as crisply argued without turgid legalese...The author successfully locates the nexus between legal and political history and makes a compelling case for the period in question being a clear and vital turning point. Kalman presents an accessible, lucid brief on how our Supreme Court appointment system became the mess that it is. --Kirkus Reviews [P]owerfully argued and timely....A masterly melding of history, legal history, and political science... --Library Journal, starred review Rich in detail and peppered with intriguing insights, Kalman's study will benefit legal historians, political scientists, court watchers, and others who find themselves wondering what history can teach us about the politics of the present. --The Chronicle Review Not all legal history is as readable as this, nor is it as crisply argued without turgid legalese... The author successfully locates the nexus between legal and political history and makes a compelling case for the period in question being a clear and vital turning point. Kalman presents an accessible, lucid brief on how our Supreme Court appointment system became the mess that it is. --Kirkus Reviews.. . powerfully argued and timely... A masterly melding of history, legal history, and political science... --Library Journal, starred review -Not all legal history is as readable as this, nor is it as crisply argued without turgid legalese... The author successfully locates the nexus between legal and political history and makes a compelling case for the period in question being a clear and vital turning point. Kalman presents an accessible, lucid brief on how our Supreme Court appointment system became the mess that it is.- --Kirkus Reviews

[E]ngagingly written....Rich in detail and peppered with intriguing insights, Kalman's study will benefit legal historians, political scientists, court watchers, and others who find themselves wondering what history can teach us about the politics of the present. --Amanda Hollis-Brusky, The Chronicle of Higher Education Not all legal history is as readable as this, nor is it as crisply argued without turgid legalese...The author successfully locates the nexus between legal and political history and makes a compelling case for the period in question being a clear and vital turning point. Kalman presents an accessible, lucid brief on how our Supreme Court appointment system became the mess that it is. --Kirkus Reviews [P]owerfully argued and timely....A masterly melding of history, legal history, and political science... --Library Journal, starred review Rich in detail and peppered with intriguing insights, Kalman's study will benefit legal historians, political scientists, court watchers, and others who find themselves wondering what history can teach us about the politics of the present. --The Chronicle Review Not all legal history is as readable as this, nor is it as crisply argued without turgid legalese... The author successfully locates the nexus between legal and political history and makes a compelling case for the period in question being a clear and vital turning point. Kalman presents an accessible, lucid brief on how our Supreme Court appointment system became the mess that it is. --Kirkus Reviews.. . powerfully argued and timely... A masterly melding of history, legal history, and political science... --Library Journal, starred review -Not all legal history is as readable as this, nor is it as crisply argued without turgid legalese... The author successfully locates the nexus between legal and political history and makes a compelling case for the period in question being a clear and vital turning point. Kalman presents an accessible, lucid brief on how our Supreme Court appointment system became the mess that it is.- --Kirkus Reviews

Author Information

Laura Kalman is Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara, a member of the California Bar, and past president of the American Society for Legal History. She is the author of Right Star Rising: A New Politics, 1974-1980, Yale Law School and the Sixties: Revolt and Reverberations, The Strange Career of Legal Liberalism, Abe Fortas: A Biography, and Legal Realism at Yale, 1927-1960.

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