An in-depth analysis of the workings and legacy of the Supreme Court led by Charles Evans Hughes. Charles Evans Hughes, a man who, it was said, "looks like God and talks like God," became chief justice in 1930, a year when more than 1,000 banks closed their doors. Today the Hughes Court is often remembered as a conservative bulwark against Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. But that view, according to author Michael Parrish, is not accurate. In an era when Nazi Germany passed the Nuremberg Laws and extinguished freedom in much of Western Europe, the Hughes Court put the stamp of constitutional approval on New Deal entitlements, required state and local governments to bring their laws into conformity with the federal Bill of Rights, and took the first steps toward developing a more uniform code of criminal justice.

"For thirty years Fisher has observed, informed, and even influenced Congress from his position in the Congressional Research Service. As a scholar, he has studied and published several important books on the separation of powers. Now, for the first time, he not only summarizes the well-informed observations of a distinguished career but also analyzes the reasons for this congressional failure of will and advocates practical ways to redress the balance.".

An innovative historical study of the longstanding debate over executive term limits in American politics . . . By successfully seeking a third term in 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt shattered a tradition that was as old as the American republic. The longstanding yet controversial two-term tradition reflected serious tensions in American political values. In Presidential Term Limits in American History, Michael J. Korzi recounts the history of the two-term tradition as well as the “perfect storm” that enabled Roosevelt to break with that tradition. He also shows that Roosevelt and his close supporters made critical errors of judgment in 1943-44, particularly in seeking a fourth term against long odds that the ill president would survive it. Korzi’s analysis offers a strong challenge to Roosevelt biographers who have generally whitewashed this aspect of his presidency and decision making. The case of Roosevelt points to both the drawbacks and the benefits of presidential term limits. Furthermore, Korzi’s extended consideration of the seldom-studied Twenty-second Amendment and its passage reveals not only vindictive and political motivations (it was unanimously supported by Republicans), but also a sincere distrust of executive power that dates back to America’s colonial and constitutional periods.

A comprehensive study of the US Supreme Court that explores the transformation of constitutional law from 1930 to 1941.