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We the People
A Conversation with Robert Post on the Taft Court
Dec 14, 2023
Robert Post, Sterling Professor of Law at Yale Law School, discusses the history of the Taft Court and the contrasting constitutional approaches among its justices. Topics include the challenges faced in researching the Taft Court volume, the interpretation of the Fourth Amendment and substantive due process rights, a comparison of Taft and Brandeis' goals, national power versus states' rights, the origins of the Whitney test, and the impact of the Taft Court on the present court.
58:28
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- The Taft Court featured contrasting constitutional approaches, with justices emphasizing shared social customs, orderly processes of change, and material prosperity and property rights.
- The Court grappled with national power versus states' rights, struggling to consistently apply a clear framework due to the complex nature of federalism in the early 20th century.
Deep dives
The Taft Court and the Balancing of Constitutional Approaches
The Taft Court, led by Chief Justice William Howard Taft, featured contrasting constitutional approaches among its justices. One approach, embodied by James McReynolds, emphasized grounding the authority of the Constitution in shared social customs and traditions. Another approach, championed by Oliver Wendell Holmes, recognized the division and struggle inherent in American society, seeking to establish orderly processes of change through legislative action. Taft himself prioritized material prosperity and property rights as the main objectives of the Constitution. Finally, Louis Brandeis emphasized the collective political project of perfecting democracy, highlighting the importance of political empowerment and protecting the rights of citizens for effective self-governance.
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