Packing the Courts: The Conservative Campaign to Rewrite the Constitution

Schwartz, professor of law at American University, charges that Reagan's nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court was part of his campaign to pack federal courts with judges who would reverse our constitutional gains in civil rights and individual liberties. In reviewing the selection process of judges and politics surrounding confirmation hearings under this administration, of both failed and successful nominees including Daniel Manion, William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, Douglas Ginsburg and Anthony Kennedy, the author, while noting that most presidents seek to achieve a politically compatible judiciary, accuses Reagan of extreme efforts to assure ideological purity affecting such issues as abortion and school prayer. Although it is too soon to estimate the impact of this administration's approximately 350 appointees, it is clear from a sampling of their decisions that those in the upper courts at least are meeting the president's expectations, according to Schwartz. Unless a Democrat becomes president in 1988, he concludes, our heritage of liberty and justice will be in jeopardy. (July)