Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Preface
- 1 Neither Force, Nor Will
- 2 When Courts Command
- 3 Judging the Court
- 4 Popular Vertical Issues
- 5 Unpopular Vertical Issues
- 6 Popular Lateral Issues
- 7 Unpopular Lateral Issues
- 8 Neither the Sword nor the Purse, but the Keys
- Appendix I Case Selection
- Appendix II Survey Information and Citations
- Appendix III Supporting Data for Figures
- Appendix IV Statistical Analysis on the Effects of the Pico Ruling
- Appendix V Behavior Conformity Calculations
- Appendix VI Statistical Analysis of Behavior Conformity
- Appendix VII The Effects of Unanimity on Behavior Conformity
- Case References
- References
- Index
1 - Neither Force, Nor Will
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 December 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Preface
- 1 Neither Force, Nor Will
- 2 When Courts Command
- 3 Judging the Court
- 4 Popular Vertical Issues
- 5 Unpopular Vertical Issues
- 6 Popular Lateral Issues
- 7 Unpopular Lateral Issues
- 8 Neither the Sword nor the Purse, but the Keys
- Appendix I Case Selection
- Appendix II Survey Information and Citations
- Appendix III Supporting Data for Figures
- Appendix IV Statistical Analysis on the Effects of the Pico Ruling
- Appendix V Behavior Conformity Calculations
- Appendix VI Statistical Analysis of Behavior Conformity
- Appendix VII The Effects of Unanimity on Behavior Conformity
- Case References
- References
- Index
Summary
The judiciary, on the contrary, has no influence over either the sword or the purse; no direction either of the strength or of the wealth of the society; and can take no active resolution whatever. It may truly be said to have neither FORCE nor WILL, but merely judgment; and must ultimately depend upon the aid of the executive arm even for the efficacy of its judgments.
Alexander HamiltonIn June of 2007, the United States Supreme Court handed down its decision in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (2007; hereafter Parents). In his plurality opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts declared that the Fourteenth Amendment requires school districts to assign students “to the public schools on a nonracial basis” (Parents 2007, 84) and therefore prohibits the race-conscious programs in the Seattle and Louisville school districts designed to promote racial diversity. Sharon Browne, the principal attorney for the parents challenging the school's assignment process, called the rulings “the most important decisions on the use of race since Brown v. Board of Education” (Rosen 2007) and predicted that, like Brown, the Court's ruling would have “a tremendous impact on the rest of the nation” (Lambert 2007).
However, several legal scholars disagreed: “School districts are going to continue to do indirectly what they tried to do directly,” said Peter H. Schuck of the Yale Law School.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Nature of Supreme Court Power , pp. 1 - 5Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010