The Warren Court and the pursuit of justice

the long version

The distinguished legal historian Morton J. Horwitz here considers the landmark cases that transformed American law in the post-war years. Brown v. Board of Education shattered more than a half century of school segregation; New York Times Co. v. Sullivan was a striking affirmation of the freedom of the press; and Roe v. Wade (decided after Warren stepped down, but on the basis of rulings he established) used the citizen's right to privacy as a basis for affirming a woman's right to obtain a legal abortion. Horwitz's book is enhanced by short profiles of the liberal voices on the Court: Hugo L. Black, William O. Douglas, Thurgood Marshall, William J. Brennan, Jr. (who, Horwitz argues, was perhaps the greatest justice in Supreme Court history), and, of course, the Chief Justice himself.