Out of Order: Stories from the History of the Supreme Court.

• Author: Rogers, C.D.
• Position: Book review

Out of Order: Stories from the History of the Supreme Court

By Sandra Day O'Connor

Sandra Day O'Connor reflects on the symbolic meaning of the Supreme Court Building: "Our Founding Fathers' uniquely American vision of an independent judiciary." These Fathers "knew that the new national branches could not be left unchecked." In her book, we travel with her through the Court's evolution--with side trips enforcing respect for the Court's foundation to which so many contributed to "the venerable institution we have today."

Clashes between judiciary and executive branches occur between second cousins John Marshall and Thomas Jefferson, end in Marshall's strongest trump in Marshall v. Jefferson, "binding the courts, as well as other departments ... to the Constitution," and emphasize "the power and duty of the judicial department" to interpret the Constitution. Colorful clashes occur between the divisions of government in Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1937 Judiciary Reorganization Bill, "court-packing plan," in challenges of Congress' "Authorization for the Use of Military Force," and in executive use of military law with terrorist entities, including those at Guantanamo Bay. O'Connor sees the Court insisting on "core principles of democracy" and ultimately democracy providing the "fulcrum of the balance."

In The Call to Serve: Judicial Appointments, O'Connor traces from George Washington to Barack Obama the appointment of justices and, more emphatically, personal anecdotes shaping the development of the Court. Washington made 11 Court nominations; Franklin Roosevelt, second in numbers, made nine. Gerald Ford made one: John Paul Stevens who served 35 years. Stevens replaced William O. Douglas, the longest-serving justice in the Court's history. The 112 appointed by 2013 continue to fascinate O'Connor in their contributions to the...