The “Stench” of Politics

Russomanno provides an interesting analysis of the effects of polarization in terms of judicial philosophy on current members of the US Supreme Court and how they decide cases. The author’s main thesis is that this polarization makes the Supreme Court more politicized and is problematic for democracy. The book is well written and thoroughly researched with excellent source material and covers the most important topics currently on the Supreme Court docket. Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty and professionals. * Choice Reviews * The US Supreme Court as a supposedly apolitical institution is so riven by partisan politics; hence, to many Americans, it has increasingly become a quagmire of irrelevance. Why and how has the Court lost its sense of institutional raison d’etre in America as a liberal democracy? Joseph Russomanno, a noted media law scholar, incisively examines various systemic challenges confronting the Court. No less important, he proposes ideas for how to meet those challenges. Russomanno’s cogently analytical and remarkably readable book couldn’t come at a more pivotal moment in the Supreme Court’s history. What a sobering but critical look at “the court of last resort” in the United States. -- Kyu Ho Youm, Jonathan Marshall First Amendment Chair, University of Oregon Russomanno has written a powerful, deeply researched argument that the current U.S. Supreme Court has become a ‘polarized and politicized’ institution, so ‘weaponized by the political right’ that ‘the Court's legitimacy hangs in the balance.’ The depth of his research and range of his sources are evident in scores of endnotes, while his writing is clear and persuasive. This is an essential book for anyone who wants to understand the current Court and its origins in the political and ideological polarization of the U.S. today. -- Leonard Downie Jr., former Executive Editor and VP of The Washington Post It has become commonplace for analysts of the Supreme Court to describe its justices as ‘politicians in robes.’ What has been missing, however, is a framework for understanding justices as political actors. In this highly readable and compelling examination of the Supreme Court, Joseph Russomanno fills that void. Russomanno applies the latest research on polarization and its psychological roots to interpret the worldviews of the Supreme Court's liberal and conservative members. Describing the Court's conservatives as fixed-originalists and its liberals as fluid-living constitutionalists, Russomanno shows how the justices reason from their core values to judicial outcomes. In doing so, he punctures the sanctified air jurists supposedly breathe, especially the allegedly value-neutral framework of 'originalism,' by making clear how much the Justices' decisions flow from their political, ideological, and worldview-based commitments. A terrific, incisive, and sobering analysis of the High Court. -- Jonathan Weiler, co-author of Prius or Pickup?: How the Answers to Four Simple Questions Explain America's Great Divide