Brennan Vs. Rehnquist: The Battle for the Constitution

Peter Irons has become one of the leading interpreters of the Supreme Court and the Constitution for the American public. His books and articles have illuminated the process by which constitutional law has been made and shaped, from the New Deal period to the present. His work has focused on the human aspect of the law, on the ordinary people who bring cases to the Supreme Court, and the impact of the Court's decisions on their lives and the lives of all Americans.Now he gives us a brilliant and insightful book about two notable Supreme Court justices, William Brennan and William Rehnquist, and how their differing visions of the Constitution have affected the functioning of the law on issues that divide the Court and the country.We see Brennan: Democrat, son of an Irish Catholic labor leader, appointed to the Court by Eisenhower, believing in a "living Constitution" and the "legitimate expectations of every person to innate human dignity." And Rehnquist: raised in a conservative midwestern suburb, Goldwater activist, appointed by Nixon, vowing to "reverse the liberal excesses of the Warren Court."We see these two men serving together for two momentous decades, the leaders of the Court's liberal and conservative factions. We come to know them, their characters, their personalities, their beliefs. We explore the roots of their conflicting values: Brennan's vision of "human dignity" and Rehnquist's commitment to "judicial deference." And we watch as they battle for the votes of the Court's moderates in a hundred cases that deal with every major issue from religion and capital punishment to affirmative action and abortion.In a book that fluently combines history and biography, drama and explication, Peter Irons allows us to grasp in fascinating, eye-opening detail the way the law works in the life of America.