famously observed that the Supreme Court was "the least dangerous branch" because it is, in theory, the least political institution. 1 Its job was simply to settle disputes over the meaning of statutes and to decide constitutional questions, but only when absolutely necessary. 2 Setting the policy of the land just was not its domain. That was for the political branches. 3 This is good theory, but it hardly reflects reality in practice. Rather, the Court has been a political football since John Adams' midnight appointments in 1801. 4 Part of this, of course, is because of the inescapable fact that virtually any choice between statutory or constitutional interpretations has policy implications. The Bill of Rights may be a beautiful, moving, and majestic document, but it is also relatively vague and reveals very little about what it means. While some cases may just be a matter of calling "balls and strikes," 5 people care * James Lewis Parks Professor of Law, University of Missouri School of Law. I would like to thank the participants at the symposium for their comments on the initial presentation of this material and my research assistant, Kevin Stockmann, for his excellent research assistance. Any errors or omissions are my own.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.