The Supreme Court The Personalities and Rivalries That Defined America

In a compelling and character-driven narrative, the noted Supreme Court expert Jeffrey Rosen recounts the history of the Court through four personal and philosophical rivalries that have transformed the law - and, by extension, our daily lives. Focusing on the remarkable clashes of eight larger-than-life personalities who dominated the Court-Chief Justice John Marshall and President Thomas Jefferson; post-Civil War justices John Marshall Harlan and Oliver Wendell Holmes; liberal icons Hugo Black and William O. Douglas; and conservative icons William H. Rehnquist and Antonin Scalia-Rosen brings vividly to life the perennial rivalry between those justices guided by strong ideology and those who forge coalitions and adjust to new realities.

Jeffrey Rosen is a professor of law at George Washington University and the legal affairs editor of The New Republic. He is the author of The Most Democratic Branch, The Naked Crowd, and The Unwanted Gaze. His articles have appeared in many publications, including The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, and The New Yorker. He is a frequent contributor to National Public Radio and lives in Washington, D.C.