Alabama Justice: The Cases and Faces That Changed a Nation by Steven P. Brown

Abstract

Reviewed by: Alabama Justice: The Cases and Faces That Changed a Nation by Steven P. Brown Ian J. Drake Alabama Justice: The Cases and Faces That Changed a Nation. By Steven P. Brown. (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2020. Pp. xiv, 262. $49.95, ISBN 978-0-8173-2070-6.) Steven P. Brown has written an account of notable U.S. Supreme Court cases and short biographies of three Supreme Court justices, all from Alabama. [End Page 421] This volume appears to be intended for an undergraduate or graduate-level readership. Although the explanations of the litigation histories and doctrinal backgrounds of these cases are engaging, scholars in the fields of law and constitutional history will find little that is new here. It is uncertain what unites the cases collected in this volume other than their constitutional law elements and the fact that they all happened to originate in Alabama state and federal courts. The author is aware of the arbitrary nature of these cases and poses a question, "Why Alabamians?" (p. 3). Brown suggests that state residents in the mid-twentieth century began to take their constitutional rights "seriously" and turned to the courts to vindicate them (p. 3). Did they fail to take their rights seriously before? If so, why? No explanation is given. The cases reviewed are quite important in American constitutional history. For example, NAACP v. Alabama (1958) was a case wherein Alabama state officials sought the membership list of the state chapter of the NAACP. The Court invalidated the state action under the substantive due process clause rubric of incorporating the free expression rights of the First Amendment through the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause. This case aided the civil rights movement by protecting advocacy organizations from being compelled to reveal their members and agents, which would, in turn, have deterred supporters from contributing or joining such organizations. Another notable case from Alabama was New York Times v. Sullivan (1964), wherein the civil rights movement was again indirectly aided by the Court's creation of a higher bar for the successful pursuit of defamation claims by public officials against news organizations. The result encouraged greater media coverage of the civil rights movement due to the reduced fear that state officials could maintain successful defamation lawsuits against newspapers and radio and television organizations. Although these are important—even landmark—cases, there does not seem to be any distinct reason that they originated in Alabama. In fact, what makes the cases important is the fact that they resonated far beyond Alabama; they affected other states because other states were engaged in the same or similar behaviors. Although this book is a hodgepodge of cases, they are all from the twentieth century, and most of them are related to the civil rights movement. In fact, a slim majority are from the era of Chief Justice Earl Warren (1953–1969). This work will be most beneficial to undergraduate and graduate students in terms of recounting the history of constitutional doctrines and explaining how those doctrines were exemplified in a single case. Brown recounts the history of a doctrine, such as gendered distinctions in the law or the Court's treatment of the commerce clause, both before and after the instant case, and explains how that case affected constitutional law and social or political practice. One feature of the book from which even constitutional scholars will benefit is the mini biographies of three Alabamians who served on the U.S. Supreme Court. Brown reviews the histories of John McKinley, John Archibald Campbell, and Hugo L. Black. McKinley's life exemplifies the hardships of justices from the antebellum period when circuit riding was hazardous to their health and made the Court the least appealing of federal posts. Campbell was so renowned a practitioner that all the then-sitting justices petitioned President [End Page 422] Franklin Pierce for him to be nominated. Finally, Black, Franklin D. Roosevelt's first appointment to the Court, is remembered for his strident support for applying the Bill of Rights to the states. Unfortunately, there is no concluding section to the book, which might have provided an argument for the distinctiveness of Alabama politics or culture...