A Mere Machine: The Supreme Court Congress and American Democracy

Introductory textbooks on American government tell us that the Supreme Court is independent from the elected branches and that independent courts better protect rights than their more deferential counterparts. But are these facts or myths?In this groundbreaking new work, Anna Harvey reports evidence showing that the Supreme Court is in fact extraordinarily deferential to congressional preferences in its constitutional rulings. Analyzing cross-national evidence, Harvey also finds that the rights protections we enjoy in the United States appear to be largely due to the fact that we do not have an independent Supreme Court. In fact, we would likely have even greater protections for political and economic rights were we to prohibit our federal courts from exercising judicial review altogether. Harvey?s findings suggest that constitutional designers would be wise to heed Thomas Jefferson?s advice to?let mercy be the character of the law-giver, but let the judge be a mere machine.&rdquo Additional ISBNs9780300205770A Mere Machine: The Supreme Court, Congress, and American Democracy is written by Anna Harvey and published by Yale University Press. ISBNs for A Mere Machine: The Supreme Court, Congress, and American Democracy are 9780300199192, 0300199198 and the print ISBNs are 9780300171112, 0300171110. Additional ISBNs include 9780300205770.