The Presidents and the Supreme Court

Collected together, James F. Simon’s books share the bitter struggles and compromises that have characterized the relationship between the presidents and the Supreme Court Chief Justices across US history.

The bitter and protracted struggle between President Thomas Jefferson and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall; the frustration and grudging admiration between FDR and Chief Justice Hughes; the clashes between President Abraham Lincoln and Chief Justice Roger B. Taney. These were the conflicts that ended slavery, that rescued us from the Great Depression, and that defined a nation—for better and for worse. And, Simon brings them to brilliant and compelling life.