The Burger Years: Rights and Wrongs in the Supreme Court, 1969-1986

Examines the impact on American law and society of the decisions reached during Warren Burger's term as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Despite its conservatism, the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Warren E. Burger continued many traditions of the Warren Court, with notable exceptions, observes Schwartz. In this lucid overview, based on a special issue of the Nation magazine, liberal lawyer-activists examine the Burger Court's major decisions and its impact on 15 crucial issues related to the First Amendment, equality, criminal justice and federal regulation of the economy. Contributors find, for example, that the Burger Court favored business and property rights and deferred to the executive branch in national security matters. Yet there were no essential changes in such existing guarantees as church-state separation and minority rights. The writers include New York University scholar Burt Neuborne, journalist-lawyer Sidney Zion and ACLU Washington director Morton Halperin. Schwartz teaches law at American University.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

An analysis of the Supreme Court's predilections during Warren Burger's 17-year reign as Chief Justice rather than an assessment of his stewardship, The Burger Years consists of 15 essays reviewing cases on such questions as libel, affirmative action, sex discrimination, abortion, the death penalty, and police procedures. The book, an expansion of a symposium published in The Nation (9/84), offers erudite liberal commentary, as might be expected from contributors like Sidney Zion, Morton Halperin, and Burt Neuborne. Editor Schwartz is a professor of law at American University in Washington, D.C. For larger law and social science collections.Kenneth F. Kister, Pinellas Park P.L., Fla.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.