Deciding to Leave: The Politics of Retirement from the United States Supreme Court (Suny Series in American Constitutionalism)

Rating:
Summary: Someone has to be First
Review: Deciding to Leave: The Politics of Retirement from the United States Supreme Court was written by Artemus Ward, and published in 2003 by the State University of New York Press as part of its American Constitutionalism series.

This is not a newly-discovered work by Artemus Ward, the 19th century American humorist of Vanity Fair fame, who also wrote under the pseudonym of Charles Farrar Browne. Rather, it is by Artemus Ward, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Northern Illinois University. And Professor Ward's research, analyses and conclusions are serious indeed. He advocates for mandatory retirement to minimize what he calls "the naked partisanship of current departure-decision-making."

Not surprisingly, each of the sitting Justices declined to be interviewed for this book, a fact given some treatment in the Preface entitled "Resisting the Irresistible." That contribution notwithstanding, you should know this before drawing any conclusions about the quality of the work: The section of the book on the retirement of William O. Douglas was awarded the 1999 Hughes-Gossett Prize by the Supreme Court Historical Society and appeared in the Journal of Supreme Court History.

Regardless of position or politics, everyone in the Judiciary should read this book.