The Vietnam War and the Watergate aftermath made it apparent that the increase in executive power which followed World War II needed to be redressed. Congress tried to balance the separation of powers by passing a number of laws that were designed to assert legislative authority in foreign policy. However, the efforts by Congress to achieve its stated objectives consistently failed. Using the struggle over power and control of American foreign policy, Silverstein details the interaction of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, and traces the altering of the constitutional...

Judicial and political power are inextricably linked in America, but by the time John Roberts and Samuel Alito joined the Supreme Court, that link seemed more important, more significant, and more pervasive than ever before. From war powers to abortion, from tobacco to integration, from the environment to campaign finance, Americans increasingly turn away from the political tools of negotiation, bargaining, and persuasion to embrace what they have come to believe is a more effective, more efficient, and even more just world of formal rules, automated procedures, litigation, and judicial...