History of the Supreme Court

Course Overview

For more than two centuries, the Supreme Court has exerted extraordinary influence over the way we live our daily lives. This course traces its development from a body with little power to its current status as the most powerful and prestigious judicial institution in the world.

Course No. 8570

Key Themes

• Continuity and change

• Consensus and conflict

• Societal diversity shaping landmark cases

Video Lectures

Foundations of the Court

1. Personality and Principle (34 min) – Introduction to the Court’s development and recurring themes.

2. Shaping the Constitution and the Court (30 min) – Debates over the new government’s structure.

• Ratification and the Bill of Rights (30 min) – Federalists vs. Antifederalists and early Court workings.

Early Landmark Eras

• John Marshall Takes Control (30 min) – Marshall’s 34-year influence as Chief Justice.

5. Impeachment, Contract, and Federal Power (31 min) – Key 19th-century cases.

• Roger Taney Takes Control (30 min) – Shifts in constitutional interpretation.

Civil War and Reconstruction

• “A Small Pleasant-Looking Negro” (30 min) – Slavery, Dred Scott, and the Missouri Compromise.

• The Civil War Amendments (30 min) – Post-war impacts on the Court.

9. “Separate but Equal” (31 min) – Plessy v. Ferguson and Justice Harlan’s dissent.

20th Century Transformations

10. Two Justices from Boston (30 min) – Holmes and Brandeis on the First Amendment.

• The Laissez-Faire Court (30 min) – Conflicts over economic liberty.

• “Clear and Present Danger” (30 min) – WWI and limits on protest.

(Continued below with remaining lectures…)