Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Science and the Study of the Presidency
- 3 The Presidency: Background and Foundations
- 4 Theories of Presidential Power
- 5 Electing a President
- 6 Congress and the President
- 7 The Supreme Court and the President
- 8 The President and the Executive Branch
- 9 The President and Foreign Policy Making
- 10 The President and Economic Policy Making
- 11 Presidential Greatness
- Bibliography
- Index
7 - The Supreme Court and the President
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Science and the Study of the Presidency
- 3 The Presidency: Background and Foundations
- 4 Theories of Presidential Power
- 5 Electing a President
- 6 Congress and the President
- 7 The Supreme Court and the President
- 8 The President and the Executive Branch
- 9 The President and Foreign Policy Making
- 10 The President and Economic Policy Making
- 11 Presidential Greatness
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
During the second term, particularly the latter part of the second term, of George W. Bush's administration, the content of the Bush “legacy” frequently arose as a topic of conversation among political pundits and as the focus for op-ed pieces in major national newspapers. Political scientists and legal scholars were also interested in the potential role of the second Bush administration in charting the future ideological course of the Supreme Court. Initial returns suggest that there is a wide perception that George W. Bush's influence on the Court will be felt for quite some time. According to David Yalof, a prominent student of the relationship between the presidency and the judiciary:
As George W. Bush approaches the final year of his presidency, pundits are considering what legacy the 43rd president will leave to the nation.… one area where scholars are in a better position right now to assess the Bush legacy is his impact on the federal judiciary and, indirectly, on the state of constitutional law. Stated simply, George W. Bush may have done more to transform the constitutional landscape in a conservative direction than any president in the past century, including Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. (2007)
This characterization of Bush's legacy is not unique to Yalof; it is an increasingly common contention among scholars and journalists from both the right and the left. Maggie Barron argues that Bush's final State of the Union address:
… was about legacy-building. But the President spent only a moment of his hour-long speech on a subject that could be his most enduring legacy of all, one that will have an impact long after troops are out of Iraq and the housing market has recovered – the makeup of the judicial branch.[2008]
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The American PresidencyAn Analytical Approach, pp. 173 - 189Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010