The Supreme Court - October 1958 Term

The Supreme Court, reads a famous passage by Bryce, feels the touch of public opinion. Opinion is stronger in America than anywhere else in the world, and judges are only men. To yield a little may be prudent, for the tree that cannot bend to the blast may be broken. The history of the highest Court bears constant witness to the truth of Bryce\u27s statement. Supreme Court action which has moved too far in one direction has always ultimately provoked an equivalent reaction in the opposite direction. Even an institution as august as the high tribunal cannot escape the law of the pendulum

Chief Justice Warren and 1984

George Orwell\u27s 1984 predicts a society dominated by a totalitarian government. Chief Justice Earl Warren was primarily responsible for a jurisprudence that would not countenance the kind of society envisaged in 1984. This Commentary traces the significant criminal procedure decisions of the Warren Court that helped to ensure that Orwel\u27s chilling prediction would remain only fiction. It first focuses on decisions that advanced fourth amendment privacy protections. It next examines the Warren Court\u27s concern for protecting the rights of the criminal defendant and for curbing illegal and oppressive police conduct. The Commentary then notes that as modern methods of electronic surveillance develop, the potential for governmental intrusion on individual privacy rights increases. It concludes with a warning: if society moves toward the Orwellian state, Supreme Court decisions alone will not be enough to safeguard the individual from the trend