Coming November 4: Overruled: The Long War for Control of the U.S. Supreme Court by Damon Root

On November 4, Palgrave Macmillan will be publishing
Overruled: The Long War for Control of the U.S. Supreme
Court, the new book from Reason Senior Editor
Damon Root. Here’s what the book is all about:

Should the Supreme Court defer
to the will of the majority and uphold most democratically enacted
laws? Or does the Constitution empower the Supreme Court to protect
a broad range of individual rights from the reach of lawmakers? In
this timely and provocative book, Damon Root traces the long war
over judicial activism and judicial restraint at America’s highest
court. Beginning in the bloody age of slavery, the Civil War, and
Reconstruction, this fight now plays a central role in today’s
blockbuster legal battles over gay rights, gun control, and health
care reform.

It’s a conflict that cuts across the political spectrum in
surprising ways and makes for some unusual bedfellows. For example,
judicial restraint—where judges defer to the policy choices made by
lawmakers and other government officials—is not only a touchstone
of the Progressive left, it is also a philosophy adopted by many
members of the modern right. Today’s growing camp of libertarians,
by contrast, has no patience with judicial restraint and little use
for majority rule. They want the courts to police the other
branches of government, striking down any state or federal law that
infringes on their bold constitutional agenda of personal and
economic freedom.

This is the story of two competing visions, each one with its
own take on what role the government and the courts should play in
our society, a fundamental debate that goes to the very heart of
our constitutional system. Overruled brings to life the
ongoing battle for power in the Supreme Court.

And here’s what the reviewers are saying:

“An intriguing account of judicial and economic policy
reflecting controversies within conservatism over civil rights and
other issues.”—Kirkus Reviews

“In Overruled, Damon Root explains a divide in judicial
theory about which I was not only ignorant but mistaken. ‘Judicial
activism’ is wrong. Right? It gives unelected authorities
minority power to impose rules and regulations that violate
individual rights without a democratic process. Wrong. It’s
‘judicial deference’ that gives elected authorities majority power
to impose rules and regulations that violate individual rights
within a democratic process. And to further confuse the issue
judicial activism and judicial deference have, by turns, been the
darlings of both Liberals and Conservatives. Fortunately, Damon
Root explains it all.” —P. J. O’Rourke, journalist and H. L.
Mencken Research Fellow at the Cato Institute

“A riveting account of the raging debate over the future of our
Constitution between those who contend that judges must ‘defer’ to
legislatures and those who view the judiciary as an equal branch of
government whose mandate is to secure the rights and liberties of
the people by holding government to its just powers. Root reveals
the inside story behind the surging movement to restore
constitutionally-limited government. I loved this book.” —Randy E.
Barnett, Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory, Georgetown
University Law Center, and Director, Georgetown Center for the
Constitution

Pre-order your copy of Overruled today at
Amazon,
Barnes & Noble, or your favorite online bookseller.