This book explores the US Supreme Court's impact on the constitutional development of the federal government from the founding era forward. The author's research is based on an original database of several hundred landmark decisions compiled from constitutional law casebooks and treatises published between 1822 and 2010. By rigorously and systematically interpreting these decisions, he determines the extent to which the court advanced and consolidated national governing authority. The result is a portrait of how the high court, regardless of constitutional issue and ideology, persistently expanded the reach and scope of the federal government.

Courts are key players in the dynamics of federal countries since their rulings have a direct impact on the ability of governments to centralize and decentralize power. Courts in Federal Countries examines the role high courts play in thirteen countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Nigeria, Spain, and the United States. The volume’s contributors analyse the centralizing or decentralizing forces at play following a court’s ruling on issues such as individual rights, economic affairs, social issues, and other matters. The thirteen substantive chapters have been written to facilitate comparability between the countries. Each chapter outlines a country’s federal system, explains the constitutional and institutional status of the court system, and discusses the high court’s jurisprudence in light of these features. Courts in Federal Countries offers insightful explanations of judicial behaviour in the world’s leading federations.

Traces the US Supreme Court’s effect on federal government growth from the founding era forward. This book explores the US Supreme Court’s impact on the constitutional development of the federal government from the founding era forward. The author’s research is based on an original database of several hundred landmark decisions compiled from constitutional law casebooks and treatises published between 1822 and 2010. By rigorously and systematically interpreting these decisions, he determines the extent to which the court advanced and consolidated national governing authority. The result is a portrait of how the high court, regardless of constitutional issue and ideology, persistently expanded the reach and scope of the federal government. “Dichio takes a fairly unique approach to thinking about the relationship between the US Supreme Court and the development of the American state. Scholars interested in American political development and historical work on the law and the courts should grapple with the evidence on offer here.” — Keith E. Whittington, coauthor of American Constitutionalism, Second Edition

With respect to "controversies between two or more states," the U.S. Constitution grants original jurisdiction to the U.S. Supreme Court, and in 1789 Congress made exclusive the Court's jurisdiction over interstate disputes. In this book, Joseph F. Zimmerman examines the role of the Supreme Court in settling disputes between states, the criteria developed by the Court to determine whether its original jurisdiction should be invoked, and the function of special masters, who, as adjuncts to the Court, facilitate negotiated settlements or provide the factual information needed by the Court to render sound decisions. Zimmerman analyzes a wide range of specific disputes, from boundary lines to financial matters to water allocation, diversion, and pollution. To alleviate the Court's exceptionally heavy and critically important appellate workload, the author proposes alternative mechanisms for resolving controversies between sister states, including interstate boundary compacts, interstate regulatory compacts, and several congressional initiatives.

This book connects the history and organization of the federal district courts to the emergence of a new technocratic form of justice. The centerpiece of this study is the clash between adjudication -- the traditional model of dispute resolution -- and the introduction of modern management techniques. From the perspective of the federal trial courts, the authors examine the tension between adjudication and administration. They show dramatic changes in the nature of judicial decision-making and the emergence of new forms of court organization. These changes signal a potential crisis of the judicial system, and Heydebrand and Seron provide insights into its nature and direction, and the immense structural forces underlying the administration of justice in America.

Reveals how the U.S. Supreme Court's presidentialism threatens our democracy and what to do about it. Donald Trump's presidency made many Americans wonder whether our system of checks and balances would prove robust enough to withstand an onslaught from a despotic chief executive. In The Specter of Dictatorship, David Driesen analyzes the chief executive's role in the democratic decline of Hungary, Poland, and Turkey and argues that an insufficiently constrained presidency is one of the most important systemic threats to democracy. Driesen urges the U.S. to learn from the mistakes of these failing democracies. Their experiences suggest, Driesen shows, that the Court must eschew its reliance on and expansion of the "unitary executive theory" recently endorsed by the Court and apply a less deferential approach to presidential authority, invoked to protect national security and combat emergencies, than it has in recent years. Ultimately, Driesen argues that concern about loss of democracy should play a major role in the Court's jurisprudence, because loss of democracy can prove irreversible. As autocracy spreads throughout the world, maintaining our democracy has become an urgent matter.

Black & white print. American Government 3e aligns with the topics and objectives of many government courses. Faculty involved in the project have endeavored to make government workings, issues, debates, and impacts meaningful and memorable to students while maintaining the conceptual coverage and rigor inherent in the subject. With this objective in mind, the content of this textbook has been developed and arranged to provide a logical progression from the fundamental principles of institutional design at the founding, to avenues of political participation, to thorough coverage of the political structures that constitute American government. The book builds upon what students have already learned and emphasizes connections between topics as well as between theory and applications. The goal of each section is to enable students not just to recognize concepts, but to work with them in ways that will be useful in later courses, future careers, and as engaged citizens. In order to help students understand the ways that government, society, and individuals interconnect, the revision includes more examples and details regarding the lived experiences of diverse groups and communities within the United States. The authors and reviewers sought to strike a balance between confronting the negative and harmful elements of American government, history, and current events, while demonstrating progress in overcoming them. In doing so, the approach seeks to provide instructors with ample opportunities to open discussions, extend and update concepts, and drive deeper engagement.