Political Foundations of Judicial Supremacy.(Book review)

Yale Law Journal, March, 2008 by Greene, Jamal

Political Foundations of Judicial Supremacy BY KEITH WHITTINGTON NEW JERSEY: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2007. pp. 296. $49.00

 
INTRODUCTION 
 
I.   THE POLITICAL UTILITY OF COURTS 
 
II.  THE GROWTH OF JUDICIAL SUPREMACY 
 
III. THE PEOPLE'S COURT? 
 
CONCLUSION 

INTRODUCTION

Judicial supremacy is the new judicial review. From the time Alexander Bickel introduced the term "countermajoritarian difficulty" in 1962 (1) until very recently, justifying judicial authority to strike down legislation in a nation committed to democratic self-government was the central problem of constitutional theory. But many who had satisfied themselves as to the legitimacy of judicial review have since taken up the related but distinct question of whether, though...