The Collision of Political and Legal Time: Foreign Affairs and the Supreme Court's Transformation of Executive Authority - Softcover

Fletcher, Kimberley L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1439914923 ISBN 13: 9781439914922

Publisher: Temple University Press, 2018

Synopsis

How does the U.S. Supreme Court shape constitutional and political development? In The Collision of Political and Legal Time, Kimberley Fletcher answers this question by analyzing the key role the Court has played in interpreting presidential decision-making in the area of foreign affairs since 1936. She reconsiders the Curtiss-WrightCourt, which instituted a new constitutional order that established plenary powers independent of congressional delegation. Fletcher also reexamines Japanese internment and detainee cases, demonstrating the entrenchment of the new constitutional order and how presidential ascendency becomes institutionalized. Other cases, such as Youngstown, illustrate how the Court, during a time of war, will check Executive power and authority. 

The Collision of Political and Legal Time examines these cases and controversies in foreign policymaking through the twentieth and into the twenty-first centuries to show that the Court is not passive or constrained; it does not merely follow politics or the majority coalition. Through her nuanced analysis, Fletcher makes a larger argument about the role of the U.S. Supreme Court as an agent of change, which ultimately transforms power, shapes politics, and redirects history.

About this title

About the Author

Kimberley L. Fletcher is Assistant Professor of Political Science at San Diego State University.

Edition details

• Publisher: Temple University Press
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1439914923
• ISBN 13: 9781439914922
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 296