Curry on Hoffer and Hoffer and Hull, 'The Supreme Court: An Essential History' and Zelden, 'The Judicial Branch of Federal Government: People, Process, and Politics' (book review)

"Activist justice," "strict constructionist," "original intent," "swing vote": We live in a time when terms describing the United States Supreme Court and its activities have become part of the popular lexicon. Talk radio, twenty-four-hour news cycles, and the blogosphere keep the public spotlight trained on the Court to a perhaps unprecedented degree. The "litmus test" of a politician"s campaign rhetoric regarding  Roe v. Wade  can make or break a career, while syndicated columnist Ann Coulter can stop the presses with a sophomoric public remark about putting rat poison in a justice's creme brulee. And academics, of course, have also rolled up their sleeves and waded into the fray with both regularity and enthusiasm. While all this denotes either the vigor of a thriving democracy or the twilight of reasoned discourse (and it isn't my intention to debate which one here), the crucial question remains as to how, amidst all the static, we can inform and enlighten today's students about the judicial branch of our federal government--not only its structures, functions, and history, but also about its very meaning in our nation and in the lives of its citizens. Two recent texts,  The Supreme Court: An Essential History  and  The Judicial Branch of Federal Government  have taken on this challenge.