{"product_id":"a-mere-machine-anna-harvey-9780300171112","title":"A Mere Machine: The Supreme Court, Congress, and American Democracy","description":"Introductory textbooks on American government tell us that the Supreme Court is independent from the elected branches and that independent courts better protect rights than their more deferential counterparts. But are these facts or myths? In this groundbreaking new work, Anna Harvey reports evidence showing that the Supreme Court is in fact extraordinarily deferential to congressional preferences in its constitutional rulings. Analyzing cross-national evidence, Harvey also finds that the rights protections we enjoy in the United States appear to be largely due to the fact that we do not have an independent Supreme Court. In fact, we would likely have even greater protections for political and economic rights were we to prohibit our federal courts from exercising judicial review altogether. Harvey's findings suggest that constitutional designers would be wise to heed Thomas Jefferson's advice to \"let mercy be the character of the law-giver, but let the judge be a mere machine.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Anna Harvey\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0300171110\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780300171112\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Yale University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/26\/2013\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 384\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.63lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.10h x 6.30w x 1.20d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 06\/01\/2014","brand":"Anna Harvey","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48013721993471,"sku":"9780300171112","price":77.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_37c5bd2a-7771-496b-86fc-bd0650187d7b.jpg?v=1767744360","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/a-mere-machine-anna-harvey-9780300171112","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}