Progress was the byword of America's Gilded Age, a time of technological innovation, industrial growth, and overseas expansion. It was an era of emancipation for former slaves, settlement houses for immigrants, and colleges for women. Antisaloon leagues called for the prohibition of alcohol while citizens demanded labor regulations and food and drug laws. Confronted by all these forces of change, the Supreme Court appeared the bastion of conservatism in case after case, as they defended the old order. Progressive reformers of the time as well as historians of the twentieth century have...