The Nine Have Spoken: The Nation vs. the Supreme Court, 1870 to Today
(Paperback)
Publishing Details
The Nine Have Spoken: The Nation vs. the Supreme Court, 1870 to Today
By (Author) Richard Kreitner
OR Books
OR Books
2nd January 2026
United States
Classifications
General
Non Fiction
Right-of-centre democratic ideologies
Central / national / federal government
Legal systems: courts and procedures
History of the Americas
Physical Properties
Paperback
272
Width 139mm, Height 203mm
Description
This incisive new book from The Nation contributors argues that our current right-wing Supreme Court is no aberration, but rather part of a long history where demands for a more democratic, accountable federal judiciary have been constant-and unheeded-for more than 150 years.
If the right-wing Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett holds onto her seat as long as her predecessor, the late liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she will still be hearing cases in 2059. That's nearly four decades of consequential decision-making, the opportunity for the Court's conservative supermajority to reshape nearly all American institutions for generations to come.
If this seems a daunting prospect on its own, these cutting dispatches from The Nation look back at more than 150 years of the Court's near-constant tipping of the scales, from the recent repeal of Roe v. Wade to the hollowing out of labor unions, voter protections, campaign-finance regulations, and beyond. Indeed, if there's one institution we might blame for all the staggering crises the country faces today, it's the Supreme Court.
As the leading progressive magazine in the country, The Nation has reported on and debated the Court's repeated transgressions on public life. This book offers indispensable perspective on how we reached our current moment and what it might take to see our way out.
Reviews
More than any other American magazine, for the past century and a half The Nation has been a beacon of doubt about of the U.S. Supreme Courts role in our politics. After too long an era of acquiescence in baleful judicial power, this collection proves that skepticism of the institution today is in a worthy tradition desperately needing both rediscovery and renewal.
Samuel Moyn, Yale Law School
Author Bio
Richard Kreitner is a contributing writer to The Nation and the author of Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union (2020) and Fear No Pharaoh: American Jews, the Civil War, and the Fight to End Slavery (2025).
