Salt of the Earth, Conscience of the Court : The Story of Justice Wiley Rutledge

John M. Ferren

ISBN 10: 1469615401 / ISBN 13: 9781469615400

Published by The University Of North Carolina Press, 2014

About this Item

nach der Bestellung gedruckt Neuware - Printed after ordering - The Kentucky-born son of a Baptist preacher, with an early tendency toward racial prejudice, Supreme Court Justice Wiley Rutledge (1894 1949) became one of the Court s leading liberal activists and an early supporter of racial equality, free speech, and church-state separation. Drawing on more than 160 interviews, John M. Ferren provides a valuable analysis of Rutledge s life and judicial decisionmaking and offers the most comprehensive explanation to date for the Supreme Court nominations of Rutledge, Felix Frankfurter, and William O. Douglas.Rutledge was known for his compassion and fairness. He opposed discrimination based on gender and poverty and pressed for expanded rights to counsel, due process, and federal review of state criminal convictions. During his brief tenure on the Court (he died following a stroke at age fifty-five), he contributed significantly to enhancing civil liberties and the rights of naturalized citizens and criminal defendants, became the Court s most coherent expositor of the commerce clause, and dissented powerfully from military commission convictions of Japanese generals after World War II. Through an examination of Rutledge s life, Ferren highlights the development of American common law and legal education, the growth of the legal profession and related institutions, and the evolution of the American court system, including the politics of judicial selection.

Seller Inventory # 9781469615400

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Salt of the Earth, Conscience of the Court : The Story of Justice Wiley Rutledge
• Publisher: The University Of North Carolina Press
• Publication Date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1469615401
• ISBN 13: 9781469615400
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 234W x 156H x 35D millimeters 234 millimeters width by 156 millimeters height by 35 millimeters depth
• Weight: 995 grams

About this title

Synopsis

The Kentucky-born son of a Baptist preacher, with an early tendency toward racial prejudice, Supreme Court Justice Wiley Rutledge (1894-1949) became one of the Court's leading liberal activists and an early supporter of racial equality, free speech, and church-state separation. Drawing on more than 160 interviews, John M. Ferren provides a valuable analysis of Rutledge's life and judicial decisionmaking and offers the most comprehensive explanation to date for the Supreme Court nominations of Rutledge, Felix Frankfurter, and William O. Douglas. Rutledge was known for his compassion and fairness. He opposed discrimination based on gender and poverty and pressed for expanded rights to counsel, due process, and federal review of state criminal convictions. During his brief tenure on the Court (he died following a stroke at age fifty-five), he contributed significantly to enhancing civil liberties and the rights of naturalized citizens and criminal defendants, became the Court's most coherent expositor of the commerce clause, and dissented powerfully from military commission convictions of Japanese generals after World War II. Through an examination of Rutledge's life, Ferren highlights the development of American common law and legal education, the growth of the legal profession and related institutions, and the evolution of the American court system, including the politics of judicial selection.

About the Author

John M. Ferren is a senior judge on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. He lives with his wife, Linda, in Washington, D.C., and South Bethany, Delaware.