BackStory

The following links and documents relate to the BackStory episode “Scales of Justice: A History of Supreme Court Nominations”, originally broadcast in June of 2010. You can listen to the entire episode here.

All Centuries

• “The Supreme Court,” a 2006 PBS documentary with videos and lesson plans
• A History of the Supreme Court published online by the Supreme Court Historical Society
• A bounty of links from the History News Network
• The Oyez Project collects audio and transcripts of Supreme Court cases for public access
• The Senate Judiciary Committee’s page of resources
• Supreme Court Nominations Resource Guide from Georgetown Law Library
• Congressional Research Service report on Supreme Court nominations, 1789-2009 (PDF)
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg on women and the Supreme Court

18th Century

• The Library of Congress’ webpage on the Judiciary Act of 1789
• What did the Federalist Papers say about Supreme Court appointments?
• Info on early circuit riding and the history of US Circuit Courts
• History of the understudied pre-Marshall court
• Memoirs of Malvina Shanklin Harlan, wife of Justice John Marshall Harlan (excerpt also available here)

19th Century

• American Bar Association publication (PDF) on the 200th anniversary of Marbury v. Madison, plus other landmark cases of the 19th century
• “Five Justices & The Grand Commission: Deciding the Presidential Election of 1876,” an online documentary

20th Century

• The Boston Globe on “Courtpacking”
• Behind the scenes: the Papers of Justice Harry Blackmun
• The Supreme Court and Civil Rights
• American Radioworks documentary: Thurgood Marshall: Before the Court
• Former Supreme Court Nominee Robert Bork on the nominations process
• The Supreme Court Database contains info on cases from 1953-2008