The Warren Court

[Douglas Laycock]

        On the relative activism of the Warren and Rehnquist Courts, let me plug a
colleague's book:  Lucas A. (Scot) Powe, The Warren Court and American
Politics (Harvard Univ. Press 2000).  It's a good read, and the early
reviews are very strong.

        It reviews the work of the Warren Court in its political context, and
without any investment in either condemning or defending the Warren Court.
 Like Klarman, Powe says the Warren Court largely enforced national norms
against regional outliers.  Scot has said that before, and I don't know
which of them said it first.

        As to the Rehnquist Court, we may have to wait 30 years for a similar
dispassionate analysis.  I'll put my own thoughts in a separate post.


Douglas Laycock
University of Texas Law School
727 E. Dean Keeton St.
Austin, TX  78705
        512-232-1341 (phone)
        512-471-6988 (fax)
        dlaycock at mail.law.utexas.edu