<i>Stewards of Democracy</i> is a celebration of a moral tradition famously observed by Alexis de Tocqueville through the eyes of Francis Lieber, a Prussian emigré who in antebellum times wrote of political ethics, hermeneutics, and comparative constitutional law as aspects of the moral duties of American lawyers and judges. The duty of the profession unifying this tradition has been to nurture and protect the institutions of self-government on which depend the stability of our complex social order and the protection of all our legal rights. Thomas Cooley, perhaps the lawyer most respected by nineteenth century Americans, is presented as a primary exemplar of the dutiful tradition. Much of the book is an account of his career as judge, scholar, teacher, and founding chair of the Interstate Commerce Commission. Cooley's career was succeeded in the tradition by a trio of Progressives: Louis Brandeis, Ernst Freund, and Learned Hand, whose careers area also examined. Finally noted is the more recent career of Byron White.Carrington contends that the dutiful tradition marked by the careers of the five exemplars is threatened by the mutually reinforcing tendencies of the Supreme Court and other high courts, of highly respected legal scholars, of the most honored of our law schools, and of noted legal journalists, all of whom tend to work from the premise that political and moral judgments can best be made by an elite and imposed on a passive citizenry, a belief tending to fulfill itself. The result is a threatened suffocation of the political institutions commanding the loyalty and enduring support of citizens. The book concludes by suggesting possible causes for a future reversal of this long-term trend and the steps such a reversal might entail.

Stewards Of Democracy: Law As Public Profession (New Perspectives on Law, Culture, and Society)

Carrington, Paul

Legal Education

Basic Books

<p>The Supreme Court today exercises power over the lives of citizens that, in important respects, exceeds that of other branches of the federal government. Life-tenured justices wield this enormous power for two or three decades and the only process that provides some accountability to the people occurs as new appointments regenerate the Court. Because justices now serve so long, that process occurs only rarely and irregularly and may be affected by a justice’s desire to have a successor appointed by a like-minded president. Some presidents have great influence on the Court’s future decisions by the happenstance that they receive three or more appointments; other presidents have little or no influence because no vacancies arise during their terms. This collection of essays by eminent legal scholars provides a comprehensive, balanced, and compelling examination of a largely neglected, but very important, subject. What are the harmful consequences of the lengthening tenure of Supreme Court justices? Do those consequences suggest that reform is necessary or desirable? Can the problem be remedied by congressional enactments or is a constitutional amendment required?</p>

Reforming the Court: Term Limits for Supreme Court Justices

Cramton, Roger

Rules & Procedures

Carolina Academic Press

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