A âterrific, if chilling, accountâ (The Guardian) of how the Supreme Courtâs new conservative supermajority is overturning decades of law and leading the country in a dangerous political direction.
In The Supermajority, Michael Waldman explores the tumultuous 2021â2022 Supreme Court term. He draws deeply on history to examine other times the Court veered from the popular will, provoking controversy, and backlash. And he analyzes the most important new rulings and their implications for the law and for American society. Waldman asks: What can we do when the Supreme Court challenges the country?
Over three days in June 2022, the conservative supermajority overturned the constitutional right to abortion, possibly opening the door to reconsider other major privacy rights, as Justice Clarence Thomas urged. The Court sharply limited the authority of the EPA, reducing the prospects for combatting climate change. It radically loosened curbs on guns amid an epidemic of mass shootings. It fully embraced legal theories such as âoriginalismâ that will affect thousands of cases throughout the country.
These major decisionsâand the next wave to comeâwill have enormous ramifications for every American.
It was the most turbulent term in memoryâwith the leak of the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, the first Black woman justice sworn in, and the justices turning on each other in public, Waldman previews the 2022â2023 term and how the brewing fights over the Supreme Court and its role that already have begun to reshape politics.
The Supermajority is âa call to action as much as it is a history of the Supreme Court â (Financial Times) at a time when the Courtâs dysfunctionâand the demand for reformâare at the center of public debate.