From renowned political theorist and Pulitzer Prize winner James MacGregor Burns, an illuminating critique of how an unstable, unaccountable, and frequently partisan Supreme Court has come to wield more power than the founding fathers ever intended.

The first courtpackers -- John Marshall's Constitution -- The Dred decision -- War powers : Lincoln vs. Taney -- Deconstruction : Republican reversal -- A court for the gilded age -- The triumphant Mr. Taft -- FDR's boldest gamble -- "Wild horses" : the Roosevelt court -- Leadership : the Warren court -- Republicans as activists -- Hard right : the Cheney-Bush court -- Ending judicial supremacy -- The justices of the Supreme Court.