Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Liberals Push for Ally in Supreme Court Nominee

Concern is mounting among liberals that President Obama is too focused on naming a "consensus-building moderate" to the U.S. Supreme Court ("Liberals Fear Obama Nominates Moderate to Court" - Associated Press/ABC News, May 4, 2010). Although retiring Justice John Paul Stevens began his high court career in the 1970s as a conservative, he moved solidly to the left. Liberal groups that supported Obama's election do not want to lose that left-leaning ideology after Stevens

Review selected library titles related to the U.S. Supreme Court and constitutional law at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a listed item, select the "Request" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to reserve for pick up at the library. Call the library at 281-290-3219 to check your PIN if you do not remember it. Use these subject words and phrases to find more in the library catalog:
  • United States Supreme Court selection
  • constitutional law
  • judicial power
  • judges selection
The U.S. Supreme Court book coverThe U.S. Supreme Court edited by Margaret Haerens - Greenhaven, 2010.
call number: 347.732 Uss
The book covers such topics as "There Are Advantages and Disadvantages to Term Limits for U.S. Supreme Court Justices" and "Political Ideology Is Not Relevant for Judicial Nominees" - table of contents excerpt

The Will of the People book coverThe Will of the People: How Public Opinion Has Influenced the Supreme Court and Shaped the Meaning of the Constitution by Barry Friedman - Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009.
call number: 347.731 Fri
"Friedman (law, NYU Law Sch.) offers an exhaustively researched book on the effect of public opinion on the Supreme Court from the Revolutionary period up to the end of the Rehnquist Court. " - Library Journal review excerpt

The Oxford Guide book coverThe Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions edited by Kermit L. Hall and James W. Ely, Jr. - Oxford University Press, 2009.
call number: Reference 342.73 Oxf
Features the "scholarship of 161 field specialists, who summarize the Supreme Court's 440 most significant cases. . . An outstanding single-volume reference." - Library Journal review excerpt

The Supreme Court book coverThe Supreme Court and the Powers of the American Government by David G. Savage - CQ Press, 2009.
call number: 347.732 Sav
"Using specific cases as illustration, the book engagingly explains complex historical and procedural issues." - Library Journal review excerpt