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Battles on the bench: Conflict inside the supreme court
Public Relations Review
While it might seem simple to defme individuals and groups in an academic sense, Greenwalt raises the question of whether people with their own identities make up a group or whether groups defme individuals. He makes the further point that depending on which view you take has significant impact on free speech and whose interests should prevail. The author takes an intellectual approach to the interpretation of constitutional and court decisions. By the same token, he recognizes that speech must be interpreted not only for what it says but what it does. Sympolic speech is an important dimension in this regard. The book identifies the significant role that politics plays both in the framing and the interpretation of laws and whether compelling interests of groups or government should prevail over individual rights. Liberal or conservative beliefs of Supreme Court justices significantly influence legal interpretations. His point, that courts render “politically correct” decisions, raises many other moral and ethical questions. Greenwalt writes with depth and clarity about the multitude of issues surrounding free speech. His ongoing comparisions between U.S. and Canadian laws are helpful in understanding the varied and complex issues. With the present climate in today’s society, this book is ‘muSt” reading for professionals and lay people. Ralph E. Pollock Public Relations Counsel Westerville, OH
Ph.il.ipJ. Cooper BiWtk.sm the Bench: Conflict in&a%the Suprenze Cowt Lawrence, KIN: University Press of Kansas, 224 pages, $24.95 cloth, 1995 Before the U.S. Supreme Court justices move to the bench, they each shake hands with every other justice, following an 1880 practice designed to help remind “. . . that differences of opinion do not preclude overall harmony of purpose. ” However, the fact remains that internecine warfare does take place and, discouragingly, seems to be increasing in both in its fierceness and its pubiic nature. Phillip J. Cooper, author of four other books relating to the court, is a thorough, documenting researcher who possesses the knowledge and writing skills to tell the story well. Justices are appointed for life and enjoy the independence to rule on what is law. Each has no power over any other justice, needs the support of at least four other justices to achieve anything, and knows that today’s enemy may be tomorrow’s ally. Nine talented people enlisted for life to deal with the major issues are bound to have substantive and substantial disagreements. 318
Vol. 22, No. 3
Book Reviews
Cooper is precise in his history. He explains who has done what and how certain conflicts came to be. Justice Frankfurter is identified as “the most active, surrogate warrior in the history of the Court.” Chief Justice Warren is presented as the outstanding leader who engineered the unanimous in Bmwn vs. Board of Edw cation, which opened the way to desegregation of our schools. Burger may have worn the title of chief justice but was not regarded as either a strong jurist or leader. Justice Thurgood Marshall, who argued for Bmvn vs. Board of Education, was ever protective of any attempts to vitiate the effects of that decision, and went public with law review articles to promote his positions. Justice O’Connor is credited with starting “the battle of the footnotes,” wherein the justice addresses the arguments of other justices by name in the footnotes of opinions. Justice Scalia is identified as raising scathing, personal attacks to vehement heights: “Similarly irrational is the concept that Justice O’Connor introduces into the law in order to achieve her result, the notion of a state’s interest in potential life when viability is possible.” Cooper bemoans the growing pointedness of dissent which seems, increasingly, to be presented in the form of scathing, personal attacks. And he cites as unfortunate the exponential growth of individual opinions even among those who concur. Also, he points out that the real qustion is not why there are so many battles, but rather under the extreme presssures of their jobs, that there are so few. Frank Winston Wylie Emeritus Professor of Journalism California State University, Long Beach
Roderick M. Kramer and David M. Messick, eds. iVegotiut&m as a Social Process
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 348 pages, $24.95,
1995
This collection of 14 papers on negotiation theory and conflict research is built around an interesting premise-that the social dimension of negotiation has become minimalized by researchers who approach negotiation primarily as a rational activity. But in practice, negotiation is more likely to involve participants who are in ongoing relationships rather than strangers. Thus, say the editors, research and experimentation should take into account the social context of negotiation. That is what this collection seeks to do. The chapters, each a free-standing research presentation, are authored by contributors ranging from doctoral students to distinguished professors and research directors. Their combined efforts are typical of edited academic presentations, heady writing with thought-provoking insight for readers who appreciate various levels of abstractions and have enough backgroudn to make the practical applications. Negotiation As A Social Process will interest the practitioner steeped in the notions that (a) public relations involves problem solving and (b) that negotiaFall1996
319
While it might seem simple to defme individuals and groups in an academic sense, Greenwalt raises the question of whether people with their own identities make up a group or whether groups defme individuals. He makes the further point that depending on which view you take has significant impact on free speech and whose interests should prevail. The author takes an intellectual approach to the interpretation of constitutional and court decisions. By the same token, he recognizes that speech must be interpreted not only for what it says but what it does. Sympolic speech is an important dimension in this regard. The book identifies the significant role that politics plays both in the framing and the interpretation of laws and whether compelling interests of groups or government should prevail over individual rights. Liberal or conservative beliefs of Supreme Court justices significantly influence legal interpretations. His point, that courts render “politically correct” decisions, raises many other moral and ethical questions. Greenwalt writes with depth and clarity about the multitude of issues surrounding free speech. His ongoing comparisions between U.S. and Canadian laws are helpful in understanding the varied and complex issues. With the present climate in today’s society, this book is ‘muSt” reading for professionals and lay people. Ralph E. Pollock Public Relations Counsel Westerville, OH
Ph.il.ipJ. Cooper BiWtk.sm the Bench: Conflict in&a%the Suprenze Cowt Lawrence, KIN: University Press of Kansas, 224 pages, $24.95 cloth, 1995 Before the U.S. Supreme Court justices move to the bench, they each shake hands with every other justice, following an 1880 practice designed to help remind “. . . that differences of opinion do not preclude overall harmony of purpose. ” However, the fact remains that internecine warfare does take place and, discouragingly, seems to be increasing in both in its fierceness and its pubiic nature. Phillip J. Cooper, author of four other books relating to the court, is a thorough, documenting researcher who possesses the knowledge and writing skills to tell the story well. Justices are appointed for life and enjoy the independence to rule on what is law. Each has no power over any other justice, needs the support of at least four other justices to achieve anything, and knows that today’s enemy may be tomorrow’s ally. Nine talented people enlisted for life to deal with the major issues are bound to have substantive and substantial disagreements. 318
Vol. 22, No. 3
Book Reviews
Cooper is precise in his history. He explains who has done what and how certain conflicts came to be. Justice Frankfurter is identified as “the most active, surrogate warrior in the history of the Court.” Chief Justice Warren is presented as the outstanding leader who engineered the unanimous in Bmwn vs. Board of Edw cation, which opened the way to desegregation of our schools. Burger may have worn the title of chief justice but was not regarded as either a strong jurist or leader. Justice Thurgood Marshall, who argued for Bmvn vs. Board of Education, was ever protective of any attempts to vitiate the effects of that decision, and went public with law review articles to promote his positions. Justice O’Connor is credited with starting “the battle of the footnotes,” wherein the justice addresses the arguments of other justices by name in the footnotes of opinions. Justice Scalia is identified as raising scathing, personal attacks to vehement heights: “Similarly irrational is the concept that Justice O’Connor introduces into the law in order to achieve her result, the notion of a state’s interest in potential life when viability is possible.” Cooper bemoans the growing pointedness of dissent which seems, increasingly, to be presented in the form of scathing, personal attacks. And he cites as unfortunate the exponential growth of individual opinions even among those who concur. Also, he points out that the real qustion is not why there are so many battles, but rather under the extreme presssures of their jobs, that there are so few. Frank Winston Wylie Emeritus Professor of Journalism California State University, Long Beach
Roderick M. Kramer and David M. Messick, eds. iVegotiut&m as a Social Process
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 348 pages, $24.95,
1995
This collection of 14 papers on negotiation theory and conflict research is built around an interesting premise-that the social dimension of negotiation has become minimalized by researchers who approach negotiation primarily as a rational activity. But in practice, negotiation is more likely to involve participants who are in ongoing relationships rather than strangers. Thus, say the editors, research and experimentation should take into account the social context of negotiation. That is what this collection seeks to do. The chapters, each a free-standing research presentation, are authored by contributors ranging from doctoral students to distinguished professors and research directors. Their combined efforts are typical of edited academic presentations, heady writing with thought-provoking insight for readers who appreciate various levels of abstractions and have enough backgroudn to make the practical applications. Negotiation As A Social Process will interest the practitioner steeped in the notions that (a) public relations involves problem solving and (b) that negotiaFall1996
319