While Congress fights tooth and nail over countless judicial nominations, no federal judge has ever been impeached on the basis of their decision making. The explanation for this incongruity, Geyh suggests, is not the balance of powers, but a dynamic equilibrium: a constant give-and-take between Congressional efforts to control the judiciary, and historical norms of judicial independence. Charles Geyh's book, with a new foreword by Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, is essential reading for any student of American government, Congress and the courts. "As gripping for its historical insight as for its relevance in our world of contentious confirmation hearings and threats—real or perceived—against judicial independence."
—Harvard Law Review "Making a strong argument that our independent judiciary derives more from intrabranch and interbranch norms than from the text of the Constitution, the book raises some well-timed concerns about the withering of these norms. . . . The story that unfolds in its pages is interesting and provocative."
—Legislative Studies Section Newsletter, American Political Studies Association Charles Gardner Geyh is John F. Kimberling Professor of Law at Indiana University at Bloomington. He has served as director of the American Judicature Society's Center for Judicial Independence and counsel to the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. |
