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The Court and the Cross: The Religious Right's Crusade to Reshape the Supreme Court | 
| Author: Frederick S. Lane
Publisher: Beacon Press
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $4.50
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Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 99157
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 13.6 x 9 x 1.9
ISBN: 0807044245
Dewey Decimal Number: 342.730852
EAN: 9780807044247
ASIN: 0807044245
Publication Date: June 15, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Edition: First Edition; Brand New with Dustjacket - No Remainder Mark
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Product Description
While President George W. Bush has appointed two Supreme Court justices during his terms in office, the next president may be in a position to appoint up to three new justices, replacing one third of the Court. This relatively high number could drastically alter future Supreme Court rulings. Now is the perfect time to consider the role of politics in Supreme Court nominations and in the new appointees' ensuing decisions.
In The Court and the Cross, legal journalist Frederick Lane reveals how one political movement, the Religious Right, has dedicated much of the last thirty years to molding the federal judiciary, always with an eye toward getting their choices onto the Supreme Court. This political work has involved grassroots campaigns, aggressive lobbying, and a well-tended career path for conservative law students and attorneys, and it has been incredibly effective in influencing major Court decisions on a range of important social issues. Recent decisions by the Right's favored judges have chipped away at laws banning prayer in school, bolstered restrictions on women's access to abortion and birth control, and given legal approval to President Bush's use of federal funds for religious organizations.
In the near future, the courts will confront a host of hot-button issues, from stem cell research and gay rights to religious expression on government property and euthanasia. As the courts hear cases driven by an evangelical agenda and tainted with religious rhetoric, Lane surveys the damage to the wall separating church and state and asks, Has the Religious Right done irreparable harm?
As a new president takes office, it is more important than ever to understand the political and social forces behind the Supreme Court nomination process. The Court and the Cross is a revealing look at how much has already been lost, thanks to the concerted efforts of the Religious Right to change the Court, and a timely warning of how much more we could yet lose.
"The Court and the Cross is a commendable and sobering account of the scope and significance of the Christian Right's incessant efforts to make a mockery of core constitutional principle. Not only does it elegantly review key Supreme Court cases about religion, but points to the extensive range of social issues the Right is working to get up for examination before our highest court, an increasingly conservative body. If you are not sure that the decisions of the Supreme Court "matter much" to you in your daily life, read The Court and the Cross and I guarantee you'll be rethinking that position. The Court's erosion of your individual religious freedom and the dictates of your conscience has already begun."
?Rev. Barry Lynn, author of Piety & Politics and Executive Director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State
"Separation of church and state is so basic a part of American values and history that it is hard to realize it is under threat. But it is, profoundly. In The Court and the Cross Frederick Lane explains why: a relentless, determined and successful campaign by the Christian Right to put its supporters on the federal courts, especially the Supreme Court. It is a colorful and compelling book."
?Anthony Lewis, author of Gideon's Trumpet and Freedom for the Thought We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment
"In The Court and the Cross, Frederick S. Lane spotlights what ought to be one of the most critical issues in this election year: the religious right's successful long-term effort to reshape the Supreme Court and the entire federal judiciary. With wit, legal erudition and political acumen, Lane explains exactly why the power to appoint federal judges with lifetime tenure may be a president's most significant legacy and why liberals have been asleep at the switch while conservatives have had their way with the courts. This timely and disturbing book offers a much-needed wakeup call to all who cherish our Constitution and understand that the separation of church and state was America's founding gift to its own citizens and the world."
?Susan Jacoby, author of The Age of American Unreason and Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism.
"Nowhere has the religious right's effort to remake America been more successful, or more poorly understood, than in its campaign to control the courts, a campaign rooted in a revisionist history that seeks to write secularism out of the nation's past. Frederick Lane's illuminating, important The Court and the Cross punctures the movement's canards and deftly explains what's at stake. Grounded in a fascinating history, this is compelling, crucial book."
?Michelle Goldberg, author of Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism
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| Customer Reviews:
 Moral decline du jour August 10, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Frederick Lane leads the way to moral decline in his new book. All we need to do is to scare people into the belief that there is no God, Lane seems to say, and we can do it by frightening them about the next election. Next, when we rationalize the absurd we can throw stones at our neighbors too. This all makes sense, if you believe like Lane, that the moral order is bad. If you can turn the moral order upside down then what is to prevent endless war? Bad books will be forgotten and you can bet this one will be.
 be afraid --- very afraid, and then vote Democratic July 14, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Frederick Lane's latest book "The Court and the Cross" provides a thoughful and well-articulated account of the long road taken by evangelicals from inward bible-thumpers to major players on the judicial (and hence political) scene. I definitely think more people need to read this book in order to understand how effective religious right "leaders" have been at filling the halls of power with their evangelical minions. These Christian soldiers do not serve our nation's interests, but rather what they interpret to be God's will.
Lane's account is thorough, eminently readable, and alarming. I hope it will inspire those of us who care about religious pluralism, separation of church and state, the constitution, and civil liberties, to get out there and fight the takeover of the court by "the cross."
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