"The Greatest Justices" List
Paul Finkelman
Paul-Finkelman at UTULSA.EDU
Thu Mar 8 12:21:42 PST 2001
does "interesting" equal "great"?
Paul Finkelman
Mark Graber wrote:
> I've been doing a lot of work on the Taney Court and don't find Taney all that interesting. The character I find most interesting is Daniel, the first really great dissenter on the Supreme Court (Johnson really wasn't). No one has more clearly articulated the extreme Jacksonian understanding of the constitution. Brewer also strikes me as substantially underrated. Seems to have had a substantial influence at the time.
>
> Mark A. Graber
> mgraber at gvpt.umd.edu
>
> >>> reynolds at LIBRA.LAW.UTK.EDU 03/07/01 08:46PM >>>
> It isn't clear to me if these are in rank-order (seems doubtful) but if
> so I don't think I'd put Taney ahead of Harlan, or even Holmes.
>
> Original message from: Thomas Baker
> >Colleagues:
> >
> >David O'Brien, from UVA, and I are in the preliminary stages of
> editing a
> >book of "The Greatest Supreme Court Justices" for
> Congressional Quarterly
> >Press.
> >
> >Our first task is to come up with a list of the 15 greatest justices. I
> >have been over the various "all-star" lists, which are efficiently
> >collected in William D. Pederson & Norman W. Provizer, "Great
> Justices of
> >the U.S. Supreme Court -- Ratings and Case Studies" (Peter Lang
> 1994).
> >
> >It would be helpful to us to get a "reading" from the members of
> this
> >Discussion List. I also thought it might be an interesting exercise
> for
> >List members.
> >
> >Who should be included? Who should not be included? Why?
> >
> >To help get things started, here is a preliminary list of 21 justices
> and
> >some of the factors commonly mentioned in the previously
> published studies:
> >
> >1. John Marshall
> >2. Joseph Story
> >3. Roger B. Taney
> >4. John Harlan I
> >5. Stephen J. Field
> >6. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
> >7. Charles Evans Hughes
> >8. William H. Taft
> >9. George Sutherland
> >10. Louis D. Brandeis
> >11. Harlan F. Stone
> >12. Benjamin Cardozo
> >13. Hugo L. Black
> >14. William O. Douglas
> >15. Robert H. Jackson
> >16. Earl Warren
> >17. Felix Frankfurter
> >18. John Harlan II
> >19. William J. Brennan, Jr.
> >20. Thurgood Marshall
> >21. William H. Rehnquist
> >
> >Factors: influence on constitutional law; enhancement of
> Supreme Court
> >authority; leadership on the Court; commitment to political and
> civil
> >rights; fidelity to federalism and separation of powers; consistent
> and
> >coherent judicial philosophy; intellectual and legal acumen;
> personal
> >background and attributes; dissenting and concurring positions;
> writing
> >style and ability; overall balance for ideology; overall balance
> over
> >history; judicial restraint/activism
> >
> >Thank you for your consideration.
> >
> >Tom
> >
> >
> >Thomas E. Baker
> >James Madison Chair in Constitutional Law
> >Director, Constitutional Law Center
> >
> >Drake University Law School
> >2507 University Avenue
> >Des Moines, Iowa 50311-4505
> >
> >(515) 271-3354; fax 271-1858
> >thomas.baker at drake.edu
> >http://www.law.drake.edu/lawCenters/conLawCenter/
> >
> ><html>
> >Colleagues:<br>
> ><br>
> >David O'Brien, from UVA, and I are in the preliminary stages of
> editing a
> >book of "The Greatest Supreme Court Justices" for
> Congressional
> >Quarterly Press.<br>
> ><br>
> >Our first task is to come up with a list of the 15 greatest
> >justices. I have been over the various "all-star"
> lists,
> >which are efficiently collected in William D. Pederson &
> Norman W.
> >Provizer, "Great Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court --
> Ratings and
> >Case Studies" (Peter Lang 1994).<br>
> ><br>
> >It would be helpful to us to get a "reading" from the
> members
> >of this Discussion List. I also thought it might be an
> interesting
> >exercise for List members.<br>
> ><br>
> >Who should be included? Who should not be
> included?
> >Why?<br>
> ><br>
> >To help get things started, here is a preliminary list of 21 justices
> and
> >some of the factors commonly mentioned in the previously
> published
> >studies:<br>
> ><br>
> ><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>1.<x-
> tab> </x-
> tab></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica">
> >John Marshall<br>
> ></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>2.<x-
> tab> </x-
> tab></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> Joseph Story<br>
> ></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>3.<x-
> tab> </x-
> tab></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> Roger B. Taney<br>
> ></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>4.<x-
> tab> </x-
> tab></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> John Harlan I<br>
> ></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>5.<x-
> tab> </x-
> tab></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> Stephen J. Field<br>
> ></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>6.<x-
> tab> </x-
> tab></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> Oliver Wendell Holmes,
> Jr.<br>
> ></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>7.<x-
> tab> </x-
> tab></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> Charles Evans
> Hughes<br>
> ></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>8.<x-
> tab> </x-
> tab></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> William H. Taft<br>
> ></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>9.<x-
> tab> </x-
> tab></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> George Sutherland<br>
> ></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>10.<x-
> tab> </x-tab></font><font
> face="Arial, Helvetica"> Louis D. Brandeis<br>
> ></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>11.<x-
> tab> </x-tab></font><font
> face="Arial, Helvetica"> Harlan F. Stone<br>
> ></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>12.<x-
> tab> </x-tab></font><font
> face="Arial, Helvetica"> Benjamin Cardozo<br>
> ></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>13.<x-
> tab> </x-tab></font><font
> face="Arial, Helvetica"> Hugo L. Black<br>
> ></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>14.<x-
> tab> </x-tab></font><font
> face="Arial, Helvetica"> William O. Douglas<br>
> ></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>15.<x-
> tab> </x-tab></font><font
> face="Arial, Helvetica"> Robert H. Jackson<br>
> ></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>16.<x-
> tab> </x-tab></font><font
> face="Arial, Helvetica"> Earl Warren<br>
> ></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>17.<x-
> tab> </x-tab></font><font
> face="Arial, Helvetica"> Felix Frankfurter<br>
> ></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>18.<x-
> tab> </x-tab></font><font
> face="Arial, Helvetica"> John Harlan II<br>
> ></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>19.<x-
> tab> </x-tab></font><font
> face="Arial, Helvetica"> William J. Brennan, Jr.<br>
> ></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>20.<x-
> tab> </x-tab></font><font
> face="Arial, Helvetica"> Thurgood Marshall<br>
> ></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>21.<x-
> tab> </x-tab></font><font
> face="Arial, Helvetica"> William H. Rehnquist<br>
> ><br>
> >Factors: influence on constitutional law; enhancement of
> Supreme Court authority; leadership on the Court; commitment to
> political and civil rights; fidelity to federalism and separation of
> powers; consistent and coherent judicial philosophy; intellectual
> and legal acumen; personal background and attributes; dissenting
> and concurring positions; writing style and ability; overall balance
> for ideology; overall balance over history; judicial
> restraint/activism <br>
> ><br>
> ></font>Thank you for your consideration.<br>
> ><br>
> >Tom<br>
> ><br>
> ><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
> ><font size=2>Thomas E. Baker <br>
> >James Madison Chair in Constitutional Law <br>
> >Director, Constitutional Law Center<br>
> ><br>
> >Drake University Law School <br>
> >2507 University Avenue <br>
> >Des Moines, Iowa 50311-4505<br>
> ><br>
> >(515) 271-3354; fax 271-1858 <br>
> >thomas.baker at drake.edu <br>
> ><a href="http://www.law.drake.edu/lawCenters/conLawCenter/"
> eudora="autourl">http://www.law.drake.edu/lawCenters/conLawC
> enter/</a></font> </html>
> >
--
Paul Finkelman
Chapman Distinguished Professor
University of Tulsa College of Law
3120 East Fourth Place
Tulsa, OK 74104
918-631-3706
Fax 918-631-2194
E-mail: paul-finkelman at utulsa.edu
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