Our Supreme Court:
A History with 14 Activities. Richard Pan-chyk. Chicago, IL: Chicago
Review Press, 2006. Pp. 224. $17.95, paper. ISBN: 1-55652-607-5. TEL: 800-888-4741
This book, written for students ages ten and up, is a sort of historical casebook
of the Supreme Court. It examines how the Court has decided cases on free
speech, freedom of religion, civil rights, regulation of business, and rights
to privacy and property rights.
For example, in the section examining Court decisions regarding freedom of
speech, the book examines eight different cases. The first is Schenck v. United
States (1919), in which a Socialist named Charles Schenck was arrested for
mailing out flyers condemning World War I and calling the draft illegal and
unconstitutional.
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote the unanimous opinion of the Court, upholding
Schenck’sconviction: “Words, which, ordinar-ily and in many places,
would be within the freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment may
become subject to prohibition when of such a nature and used in such circumstances
as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive
evils which Congress has a right to prevent.” This was the argument
containing the famous example that it would be illegal to yell “Fire!”
in a theater.
Also, in this section of the book we find a discussion of Street v. New York
(1960), in which Sidney Street was arrested and ultimately convicted for burning
an American flag after he heard about the fatal shooting in Mississippi of
the civil rights leader James Meredith.
In this case, Justice John Mar-shall Harlan spoke for the majority, which
ruled in favor of Street: “Disrespect for our flag is to be deplored
no less in these vexed times than in calmer periods of our history. Nevertheless,
we are unable to sustain a conviction that may have rested on a form of expression,
however distasteful, which the Constitution tolerates and protects.”
Sidebar interviews with people involved with key cases in each of these areas
flesh out the discussion. Among those interviewed are: former Attorneys General
of the U.S. Dick Thornburgh, Benjamin Civiletti, and Edwin Meese III; Senator
Arlen Specter, Kenneth Starr, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III,
Ralph Nader, television newsman Morley Safer, and novelist Kurt Vonnegut,
Jr.
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