This article was originally written for my old blog in 2023. It took approximately two weeks to complete this 480+ page history of the Supreme Court, with a tiny font, I might add. In homage to Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States," who wrote the forward of this book, Irons aims to share the stories of those who made the most significant Supreme Court decisions in its history. Not just the black-robed justices, but also the often desperate-for-justice plaintiffs.
This was an admirable effort, and I truly enjoyed reading this book. However, I have a few issues to discuss. First, I was somewhat surprised that some of the most important cases I learned about in my Constitutional Law classes over 15 years ago were not mentioned. I'm specifically thinking of Brandenburg v. Ohio and the peyote case, Employment Division v. Smith.
Irons did mention several other landmark Free Speech cases during this time, but the omission of the above cases seemed odd to me. I also found it surprising that he did not mention the RFRA, which was passed in response to the negative reaction to the Employment Division v. Smith opinion.
Secondly, it was clear that this book made no pretense of being objective. I found some of Irons's comments to be unfair from a historical perspective. For example, his assessment that Johan Marshall Harlan was still a racist, despite his dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson, did not sit well with me.
Finally, while Irons was not as explicit as he could have been, it was evident that the Supreme Court has always been a political body. Some of the appointments seemed like pure quid pro quo, and many of the earlier justices did not even want to be on the Court. When I hear people complain about today's partisan Court, I just roll my eyes.
Overall, I found this book highly fascinating, despite my minor quibbles. It was great to be reminded of some of the cases I once learned about, and it was also surprising to learn some new facts. I look forward to reading more Supreme Court histories and biographies, especially of Louis Brandeis and Oliver Wendell Holmes.
