Men in Black

I blogged last month that I would work to finish the tower of books on my nightstand and I’ve kept that promise so far. My latest book to read is “Men in Black, How the Supreme Court is Destroying America” by Mark R. Levin. Even before law school, I had a fascination with the United States Supreme Court and its justices. This book was on the New York Times Bestseller list in 2005, when it was published, and on my “must read” list ever since.

Mark Levin has organized this book with each chapter focusing on a major issue that has been decided by the Supreme Court, starting with the concept of Judicial Review, moving to Abortion, Religion, Immigration and Freedom of Speech to name a few. He covers all the hot topics of Constitutional Law.

The details provided by Mr. Levin of each case, the decision and written opinions are meticulous and easy to follow with extensive notes. He lays out his argument that the Court has been moving away from using the actual Constitution as a basis in deciding cases for decades in a thought provoking and convincing manner. Over and over he illustrates, through case study, how the Court has ignored our founding document and many times, their own precedent, to adjust the outcome of the case to fit the justices’ own social, moral or political beliefs.

I found the evidence of this path the Supreme Court is on, taking us further and further away from the Constitution and our country’s founding, simply overwhelming. There were several times I had to put the book down and walk away because I was disturbed. Since I knew most of these cases from my Con Law classes in Law School, the outcomes weren’t surprising, but to see it all put together in one place really hit home. These are unelected, unaccountable Justices, appointed for life, usurping the power reserved in the Constitution for the other 2 branches of the government by substituting their own Judgment for that of the Legislative and Executive branch.

This is a very methodical and well written book for those who are interested in seeing how the Court, over the years, has given themselves the ability to create, shape and legislate new laws from the bench. It is also a good read for all those people who wonder if elections really matter.

WRITTEN BY:

Lisa Henley Jones

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