For more than two centuries, the Supreme Court has exerted extraordinary influence over the way we live our daily lives. The Court has defined the boundaries of our speech and actions since its first meeting in 1790, adding to our history books names such as John Marshall, Louis Brandeis, Hugo Black, Earl Warren, Thurgood Marshall, Warren Burger, William Rehnquist, and many others. Have you ever wondered what goes into shaping the Court's decisions - or the beliefs of its justices? Or how the nine justices blend divergent and often strongly conflicting philosophies to reach decisions that reflect consensus - or sometimes fail to? How even a single change in the Court's personnel can dramatically alter not only the Court's ideological balance but its cooperative chemistry, as well? Or what it actually sounded like in the Court as some of the most important cases in our history were argued? This series of 36 clear and insightful lectures - delivered by an award-winning teacher and widely respected authority on the Supreme Court - answers these questions and many more as it traces the development of the Court from a body having little power or prestige to its current status as, "the most powerful and prestigious judicial institution in the world." The lectures are rich in biographical snapshots of not only the justices but also the advocates who have stood before them and the dozens of ordinary men and women whose cases have reached the Court. Several historical recordings are also highlighted, giving you a front-row seat as you hear lawyers actually arguing before the Court, as well as the justices' replies.
History of the Supreme Court
01: Personality and Principle
We outline the Court's development as an institution and discuss the themes that will recur throughout the course: continuity and change, consensus and conflict, and the societal diversity that creates many of the Court's cases....
02: Shaping the Constitution and the Court
This lecture discusses the factors that led to the drafting of a new Constitution and the debates over the shape of the new government....
03: Ratification and the Bill of Rights
We examine the debates at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 over ratification between the supporting Federalists and the Antifederalists, as well as the addition of the Bill of Rights in 1791 and the workings of the Court during its first decade....
04: John Marshall Takes Control
The impact of Marshall's 34-year tenure as Chief Justice has been significant and long-lasting. This lecture examines his career and influence....
05: Impeachment, Contract, and Federal Power
This lecture examines the impeachment and trial of Justice Samuel Chase, as well as several landmark cases that grew out of the rapid growth of the nation in the 19th century....
06: Roger Taney Takes Control
When Roger Taney-a fervent advocate of states rights and slavery-became Chief Justice after the death of John Marshall, the Court's reading of the Constitution became very different....
07: "A Small Pleasant-Looking Negro"
The conflict over slavery holds center stage in this lecture, which looks at the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the growth of the abolitionist movement, with its primary focus on Chief Justice Taney and a slave named Dred Scott....
08: The Civil War Amendments
This lecture begins with the national debate following the Dred Scott decision and continues with the effect on the Court of both the Civil War and Reconstruction....
09: "Separate but Equal"
Beginning with the so-called "stolen election" of 1876, this lecture looks at the Courts of Chief Justices Morrison Waite and Melville Fuller, with added focus on Justice John Marshall Harlan and the "separate but equal" doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson....
10: Two Justices from Boston
This lecture looks at the backgrounds, legal careers, and judicial approaches of two justices who differed in many ways but shared a devotion to the First Amendment: Oliver Wendell Holmes and Louis Brandeis....
11: The Laissez-Faire Court
This lecture analyzes the Court's conflicts between 1877 and 1908 over the notion of a "laissez-faire Constitution" based on "liberty of contract" and the effect of its decisions on later New Deal rulings....
12: "Clear and Present Danger"
This lecture looks at how World War I impacted the limits of political protest, examining three "sedition" cases that established the famous "clear and present danger" test....
13: The Taft Court and the Twenties
In the midst of post-war conservative reaction, former President William Howard Taft became Chief Justice, leading a staunchly conservative Court that nevertheless issued some surprising decisions regarding education....
14: Wins and Losses for New Deal Laws
This lecture examines the reactions of the Court, under Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, to President Franklin Roosevelt's efforts to fulfill his promises of a "New Deal."...
15: "Court Packing" and Constitutional Revolution
This lecture looks at both President Roosevelt's attempt to "pack the Court" to ensure passage of his proposals and the effects of the "Constitutional Revolution" unleashed by key 1937 decisions....
16: The New Dealers Take Control
The retirements or deaths of five justices between 1937 and 1940 gave President Roosevelt an opportunity to create a "New Deal-friendly" Court. This lecture focuses on three of his choices: Hugo Black, Felix Frankfurter, and William O. Douglas....
17: "Beyond the Reach of Majorities"
The Court's role in protecting the rights of religious minorities is highlighted in several major rulings involving members of the Jehovah's Witnesses, including two centered on the refusal of school children to salute the flag....
18: Pearl Harbor and Panic
This lecture examines the Court's rulings in cases arising from the mass evacuation and internment of West Coast Japanese Americans during World War II....
19: The Supreme Court and the Communist Party
This lecture is devoted to the Court's major rulings in cases involving the Communist Party from 1937 to 1951, an era when suspicion of possible subversion by pro-Soviet sympathizers was a major social undercurrent....
20: Thurgood Marshall-Lawyer and Justice
Beginning with a biographical focus on Thurgood Marshall, this lecture introduces the strategy and early cases he developed as the leader of the NAACP's campaign to strike down the South's "Jim Crow" laws....
21: Five Jim Crow Schools and Five Cases
We follow Marshall's final assault on segregated education as five carefully selected cases move to the Court, focusing not only on Marshall, but on the lawyers who worked with him and the federal judges they faced....
22: The Hearts and Minds of Black Children
This lecture examines the oral arguments and court deliberations in those five cases-decided in May 1954 as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas-including the determination of new Chief Justice Earl Warren to achieve a unanimous ruling....
23: "War Against the Constitution"
Brown produced three important issues discussed in this lecture: the implementation of the decision, the South's reaction to the Court's call for "all deliberate speed," and the Court's 1958 response to the most serious case of resistance, in Little Rock, Arkansas....
24: Earl Warren-Politician to Chief Justice
We look at the background and career of Chief Justice Earl Warren, whose appointment to the Court as a political reward by President Dwight Eisenhower gave little indication of the era that was to follow....
25: "We Beg Thy Blessings"
Four major rulings between 1947 and 1963 involving the government's commitment to religious neutrality and religion in the classroom provide the backbone of this lecture....
26: "You Have the Right to Remain Silent"
Though the Constitution includes four amendments protecting the rights of defendants, it was not until the Warren years that a national code of criminal procedure began to evolve. This lecture looks at key rulings involving search-and-seizure, the right to counsel, and the right to remain silent....
27: The Warren Court Reshapes the Constitution
This lecture examines several controversial rulings, including those involving the issues of "one man, one vote," racial discrimination in "public accommodations," and the First Amendment rights of students....
28: Earl Warren Leaves, Warren Burger Arrives
This lecture discusses Chief Justice Warren's unusual 1969 retirement and his replacement by Warren Burger, and two landmark rulings by the Burger Court on the busing of school children, and the publication of the Pentagon Papers....
29: "A Right to Privacy"
This lecture begins a discussion of the Court's rulings on abortion and includes a look at two justices placed on the Court by President Richard Nixon: Louis Powell and, in some detail, Chief Justice William Rehnquist....
30: From Abortion to Watergate
Two cases form the core of this lecture: Roe v. Wade, including the development of Justice Harry Blackmun's majority opinion, and the Watergate Tapes case of Nixon v. United States....
31: The Court Faces Affirmative Action
The issue of affirmative action to address long-standing patterns of discrimination is the focus of this lecture, including the Court's landmark 1978 ruling in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke....
32: Down from the Pedestal, Out of the Closet
This lecture discusses the Court's rulings in cases dealing with discrimination against two groups: women and homosexuals....
33: Burning Flags and Burning Crosses
This lecture examines the Court's rulings in two cases involving "symbolic speech"-flag-burning as political protest and cross-burning as an expression of racial hatred-as well as major changes in the Court's membership in 1986 and 1987....
34: Prayer and Abortion Return to the Court
The Court's landmark decisions in cases involving school prayer and abortion did little to resolve the controversy surrounding those issues, which the Court has been forced to revisit several times since....
35: One Vote Decides Two Crucial Cases
This lecture begins with the Court's continuing struggle to deal with abortion, including the complex reasoning that produced the decision not to overturn Roe v. Wade, and ends with its five-to-four ruling in the disputed presidential election of 2000....
36: Looking Back and Looking Ahead
The course concludes with a look back at the Court's history in terms of the roles played by our basic themes of continuity and change, consensus and conflict, and societal diversity....
About
Dr. Peter Irons is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. He earned his undergraduate degree from Antioch College and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from Boston University. He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he served as senior editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. Before taking his position at San Diego, Professor Irons taught at Boston College Law School and the University of Massachusetts. He has been a visiting professor at several law schools and served as the Raoul Wallenberg Distinguished Visiting Professor of Human Rights at Rutgers University in 1988. A widely respected authority on the Supreme Court and constitutional litigation, Professor Irons wrote and edited 12 books, including Jim Crow's Children: The Broken Promise of the Brown Decision. His books have won an unprecedented five ìSilver Gavelî awards from the American Bar Association for their contributions to ìpublic understanding of the American legal system.î Professor Irons received Outstanding Teaching Awards from three of the UCSD colleges. Professor Irons is also an active civil rights and liberties lawyer, and belongs to several state and federal bars, including the United States Supreme Court.
