Asa Kowals-Rose | Blog for RFILP

These chapters discussed the Supreme Court’s shift to the right in the post-Warren era. Irons points out that this shift wasn’t immediate; it took nearly twenty years after Earl Warren’s retirement for a conservative majority to solidify under William Rehnquist, a Nixon appointee who Ronald Reagan raised to the position of Chief Justice. During the interim, Warren Burger served as Chief Justice. Despite his conservative views, Burger’s tenure is probably most famous for the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, generally regarded as a landmark liberal victory. The Burger Court also dealt with several First Amendment and civil rights cases.

One issue I found interesting about this section is the question of the extent to which the Court should reflect the political views of the presidents who appoint its justices. Many argue that the Court should strive to be entirely apolitical, but given the relative impossibility of this, shouldn’t the ability to appoint likeminded justices be considered one of the spoils of electoral victory rather than an abuse of power?