The Supreme Court DVD 4PK

A good series for general consumption

I like this series and plan on using it as an ancillary to teach the history and trends of the Court in my introductory Political Science classes; it is not as case-and-analysis-intensive as I would...Read complete review

I like this series and plan on using it as an ancillary to teach the history and trends of the Court in my introductory Political Science classes; it is not as case-and-analysis-intensive as I would require to be of use in an upper-level undergrad class, but taking it for what it is, it is nevertheless well-done and an important look at the most under-studied of the three "coequal branches" our magnificent Constitution established. Perhaps "The Federalist"'s earlier review that excoriated the series for being soft on Justices like Black and Warren is one of the strongest points that comes out in favor of the series; it does a great job in the 3rd episode of pointing out the partisan backlash against the Court in that important period of its history, which underscores how poorly most Americans understand the nature of the Supreme Court as a *constitutional* court (the transformation into which is covered well in the earlier episodes)and provides food for thought about the dangers of treating it as a partisan or political tribunal (part I of the series discusses President Jackson's contempt for the Court's decision in *The Cherokee Cases*, leading into Taney's infamous opinion in *Dred Scott*.

I think reading Alexander Hamilton's classic *Federalist* #78 prior to watching this series would do the average American a great service in understanding what the Court is, how it does its work and why it has developed over time the way it has. The series is clearly intended to be a highly watchable introductory American history and basic law-and-politics offering, and it accomplishes this task admirably. It does not pretend to be anything more advanced than that, but for viewing engagement's sake with a general audience interested in the subject matter, that was probably a good decision.