Answering the Call of the Court: How Justices and Litigants Set the Supreme Court Agenda; Strategic Selection: Presidential Nomination of Supreme Court Justices from Herbert Hoover Through George W. Bush; and Running for Judge: The Rising Political, Financial, and Legal Stakes of Judicial Elections

Extract

Answering the Call of the Court: How Justices and Litigants Set the Supreme Court Agenda. By Vanessa A. Baird. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006. 240p. $45.00.

Strategic Selection: Presidential Nomination of Supreme Court Justices from Herbert Hoover Through George W. Bush. By Christine L. Nemacheck. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2007. 192p. $35.00.

Running for Judge: The Rising Political, Financial, and Legal Stakes of Judicial Elections. Edited by Matthew J. Streb. New York: New York University Press, 2007. 272p. $45.00.

These three books on the judicial system address how the law evolves. While there is little direct overlap in the coverage of the books, they all discuss the development of the law from different perspectives. They amply illustrate how political considerations become incorporated in the legal decisions of courts.