The US Supreme Court - at least until Bush v. Gore - had seemed to float along in an apolitical haze in the mind of the American electorate. It was the executive branch and the legislative branch that mucked about in politics getting dirty, the judicial branch kept its robes - and nose - clean. This title seeks to make it abundantly clear however that before, during, and after the judicial decision that made George W. Bush the President of the United States, everything was, is, and will likely be, politics - including the decisions handed down by the highest court in America. This revised and updated edition takes into account not only the recent famous (or infamous, depending on the reader's point of view) judicial decision on the Presidency, but a myriad of others as well in which the US Supreme Court has considered the constitutionality of a wide range of issues involving voting and elections, representation, and political participation. Practitioners and academics in both law and political science examine a number of court actions that directly affect how Americans choose those who govern them, and how those decisions have affected their electoral politics, constitutional doctrine, and the fundamental concepts of democracy, including: racial redistricting, term limits, political patronage, campaign finance regulations, third-party ballot access, and state ballot initiatives limiting civil liberties.

Table of Contents:
Foreword to the Second EditionLee EpsteinPreface 1. The U.S. Supreme Court, The Electoral Process, and the Quest for Representation: An OverviewDavid K. Ryden Part I: The Judicial Search for Electoral Representation 2. Representation Rights and the Rehnquist Years: The Viability of the "Communities of Interest" ApproachNancy Maveety 3. Vote Dilution, Party Dilution, and the Voting Rights Act: The Search for "Fair and Effective Representation"Howard A. Scarrow 4. Districting and the Meanings of Pluralism: The Court's Futile Search for Standards in Kiryas JoelStephen E. Gottlieb Part II: Political Parties: The Key to, Or the Scourge of, Representation? 5. Back to the Future: The Enduring Dilemmas Revealed in the Supreme Court's Treatment of Political PartiesMichael A. Fitts 6. Partisan Autonomy of State Regulatory Authority? The Court as MediatorPaul R. Petterson 7. The Supreme Court's Patronage Decisions and the Theory and Practice of PoliticsCynthia Grant Brown Part III: The Court and Political Reform: Friend or Foe? 8. Entrenching the Two-Party System: The Supreme Court's Fusion DecisionDouglas J. Amy 9. To Curb Parties or to Court Them? Seeking a Constitutional Framework for Campaign Finance ReformDavid K. Ryden10. Plebiscites and Minority Rights: A Contrarian ViewBradley A. Smith Part IV: "Out of the Shadows": Bush v. Gore, the Court, and the Selection of a President 11. Bush v. Gore Typifies the Rehnquist Court's Hostility to VotersStephen E. Gottlieb 12. An Agnostic Assessment of the 2000 Presidential ElectionMark E. Rush 13. What Bush v. Gore Does and Does Not Tell Us about the Supreme Court and Electoral PoliticsDavid K. Ryden 14. The Imperiousness of Bush v. Gore Jeff Polet Part V: The Court, the Constitution, and Election Law: Merging Practice and Theory 15. The Supreme Court Has No Theory of Politics-and Be Thankful for Small FavorsDaniel H. Lowenstein 16. The Supreme Court as Architect of Election Law: Summing Up, Looking AheadDavid K. Ryden BibliographyTable of CasesIndex