A Supreme Court Primer for the Public

In writing The Supreme Court: How It Was, How It Is, William H. Rehnquist becomes the first sitting Chief Justice to author a book that explains the workings of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is not a treatise on constitutional doctrine; rather, it surveys the "borderland between American history and constitutional law" (p. 8). Chief Justice Rehnquist's book succeeds in providing the "interested, informed layman, as well as... lawyers who do not specialize in constitutional law" (p. 7) with a history of the Supreme Court as an institution, a primer on established constitutional law doctrine, and a picture "of how the Court today goes about its business of deciding cases" (p. 8). It profits from the special insight that only a former clerk for and present Chief Justice of the Supreme Court can provide. The Supreme Court is largely informative; most of the book should provoke little debate. Chief Justice Rehnquist steers the book away from controversy by "avoid[ing] any discussion of the cases and doctrines in which any of my present colleagues have played a part" (p. 8). Moreover, as the title of the book suggests, Rehnquist strives to discuss the Supreme Court in an objective manner-how it was and how it is, not how it should have been or how it should be. Because of this focus, those who disagree with the Chief Justice's judicial ideology will be able to criticize his book only for what it omits1 or for what it implies.2 Nonetheless, even without discussing his ideology Rehnquist provides ample substance: all but the most informed scholars who read this book will increase their knowledge of the Supreme Court.