Brian McGinty . Lincoln and the Court. Cambridge : Harvard University Press . 2008 . Pp. 375. $27.95.

Abstract

The American Civil War raised profound constitutional issues such as the legality of secession and the nature of the Union; the limits of executive power; and civil liberties, the suspension of habeas corpus, and the imposition of martial law. Remarkably, Brian McGinty has written the first book in fifty years on Abraham Lincoln and the Supreme Court. James F. Simon, in Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney: Slavery, Secession, and the President's War Powers (2006), had a narrower focus, although both authors take a similar approach and are writing for the same audience. McGinty has produced a well-written, well-researched narrative about Lincoln and the court. His approach is largely descriptive. He is more inclined to present short, vivid judicial biographies than doctrinal analysis; he includes a “Gallery of Justices” that contains a thumbnail sketch and portrait of each justice who sat on the court while Lincoln was president as well as those who later considered issues arising from the war. McGinty uses archival sources, particularly letters, to present the justices as “living and breathing human beings” (p. 10). He is also well versed in the secondary literature.