Judge Richard S. Arnold: A Legacy of Justice on the Federal Bench

Author:   Polly J. Price ,  Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Publisher:   Prometheus Books
ISBN:  

9781591027119


Pages:   488
Publication Date:   21 April 2009
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
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Judge Richard S. Arnold: A Legacy of Justice on the Federal Bench


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Overview

In 1994, President Bill Clinton called federal appellate court Judge and fellow Arkansan Richard Sheppard Arnold the most brilliant man on the federal bench. But for concerns about Arnold's poor health, Clinton would have nominated him to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court left by the retirement of Justice Harry A. Blackmun. Indeed, when the Blackmun position on the court opened up, Arnold received the endorsement of more than 100 federal judges almost 20 percent of the entire federal judiciary. Clinton's concerns turned out to be well founded, for ten years later Judge Arnold succumbed to the lymphoma that he had battled for almost three decades. At his death, eight Supreme Court Justices published tributes to his fairness, judicial restraint, and eloquent and influential judicial opinions. Who was Richard Arnold, and why did so many colleagues across the political spectrum hold him in such high esteem? In this carefully researched, insightful biography, law professor Polly J. Price, who served as Judge Arnold's law clerk, has created a compelling portrait of a man who, like Judge Learned Hand of an earlier era, is widely believed to be one of the best judges never to serve on the Supreme Court. Through internal court documents, interviews with judges and law clerks, and Arnold's diaries, Professor Price traces Arnold's life, career, and political transformation from an elite Southerner with deep misgivings about Brown v. Board of Education to a modern champion of civil rights. Her analysis of Arnold's leadership in civil rights, especially on First Amendment issues, the death penalty, and claims of individuals against government wrongdoing, tells us much about changes in both southern and national society during his tenure from 1978 to 2004. An important example of Arnold's many contributions was his progressive resolution of desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas, long infamous for the Central High School crisis of the 1950s. Arnold's work brought closer to an end more than fifty years of federal court supervision of the Little Rock schools. This book also features excerpts from Arnold's diary of his clerkship with Supreme Court Justice William Brennan in 1960. Arnold's diary provides unique insight into this pivotal year of the Warren Court. As much a history of federal courts in recent decades as it is the life story of one of its best-known judges, this first biography of Judge Richard S. Arnold is a sensitively written, objective account of a man of outstanding intelligence, talent, and integrity.

Full Product Details

Author:   Polly J. Price ,  Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Publisher:   Prometheus Books
Imprint:   Prometheus Books
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.30cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9781591027119


ISBN 10:   159102711
Pages:   488
Publication Date:   21 April 2009
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

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Reviews

Judge Richard S. Arnold comes from a law professor who has served as his law clerk, so it offers both a personal and researched survey of his life and times in a fine coverage especially recommended for college-level legal and political science libraries. -- The Bookwatch, The Midwest Book Review, July 2009


Author Information

Polly J. Price (Atlanta, GA) is professor of law and associate dean of faculty at Emory University School of Law. She is also an associate faculty member of the department of history at Emory and the author of Property Rights: Rights and Liberties under the Law. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Prof. Price served as a law clerk for Richard S. Arnold in the Eighth US Circuit Court of Appeals from 1989 to 1991.

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