The Truman Court: Law and the Limits of Loyalty

About this book

Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of Harry S. Trumans presidency is his judicial legacy with even the finest of Truman biographies neglecting to consider the influence he had on the Supreme Court. Yet as Rawn James lays out in engaging detail president Harry Truman successfully molded the high court into a judicial body that appeared to actively support his administrations political agenda. In rulings that sparked controversy in their own time the Supreme Court repeatedly upheld Trumans most contentious policies including actions to restrict free speech expand civil rights and manage labor union unrest. The Truman Court: Law and the Limits of Loyalty argues that the years between FDRs death in 1945 and Chief Justice Earl Warrens confirmation in 1953the dawn of the Cold Warwere contrary to widespread belief important years in Supreme Court history. Never before or since has a president so quickly and completely changed the ideological and temperamental composition of the Court. With remarkable swiftness and certainty Truman constructed a Court on which he relied to lend constitutional credence to his political agenda.