Publication Date

1993

Journal

Public Interest Law Review

Abstract

The 1991 Supreme Court Term was the first during which justices originally appointed by Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush-Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, and Clarence Thomas-constituted a majority. The term's main surprise, however, was that this majority of five-indeed, a majority of six when Chief Justice William Rehnquist, elevated to that position by President Reagan precisely because of his judicial philosophy, is included-did not forge a consistent jurisprudential majority characterized by the strict interpretative approach favored by their sponsoring presidents. While, generally speaking, the Court's decisions certainly continued to represent a departure from the expansive interpretative approach of the Warren Court, it was striking that in the two most jurisprudentially and socially significant cases of the term-those concerning abortion and prayer at civic ceremonies-a majority of the Reagan-Bush justices rejected Bush administration arguments supporting interpretations more in accord with the Constitution's original understanding.

Volume

1993

First Page

165

Last Page

186

Keywords

Civil Rights, Comparative and Foreign Law, Constitutional Law, Politics (General), Political Science

Disciplines

Civil Rights and Discrimination | Comparative and Foreign Law | Constitutional Law | Law

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