Executive Disorder: The Subversion of the United States Supreme Court, 1914-1940

Executive Disorder follows the career of US Attorney General and Associate Justice James Clark McReynolds, who advocated states rights, a true interpretation of the Constitution, and sound currency based on the gold standard. Under Taft, McReynolds was one of the authors of the Judicial Code. McReynolds, best known for his opposition to New Deal policies, was joined by VanDevanter, Sutherland and Butler, who were sometimes called "the Four Horsemen." Executive Disorder traces the use and abuse of executive power to establish policies and organizations that were later struck down as unconstitutional by the Court, and reveals how the door was opened to create an imbalance of the original powers that govern our nation.