The Warren Court and the Pursuit of Justice (Hill and Wang Critical Issues)

Morton Horwitz's The Warren Court and the Pursuit of Justice is a book for the layperson outlining the changes the Warren Court created in America's civil liberties jurisprudence. While the book is in no sense a polemic, Horwitz assumes the reader shares his view that what the Warren Court wrought was progress, and he criticizes the justices only when they failed to reach liberal results. Justice Byron White would have winced at the way Horwitz characterizes decisions and justices as being simply "liberal" or "conservative," and one could argue that such a politicization is a problem rather than a virtue. But ACLU members and casual students of American legal history will find the book a quick read that touches upon all of the substantial decisions in a critical period of the Supreme Court's life. --Ted Frank