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22 Harv. C.R.-C.L. L. Rev. 290 (1987)
Swann's Way: The School Busing Case and the Supreme Court

handle is hein.journals/hcrcl22 and id is 296 raw text is: 290 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review [Vol. 22 Swann's Way: The School Busing Case and the Supreme Court. By Bernard Schwartz. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. Pp. 245. $19.95 cloth. Postulating theories of constitutional adjudication is an en- during enterprise. Professor Bernard Schwartz in Swann's Way, by sequentially exposing confidential dialogue among Su- preme Court Justices, contributes an empirical dimension to the task of explaining and evaluating the processes of judicial de- cisionmaking. Viewed from this perspective, revealing the Su- preme Court's internal proceedings does more than merely sat- isfy idle curiosity. For example, the Justices' draft opinions, memoranda, letters, and verbal recollections reproduced throughout Swann's Way convey the deliberative methods and motives which compelled extensive rewriting of the Court's opinion initially proposed by Chief Justice Burger in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education.1 Sojourning in these realms, though no longer novel,2 remains a fascinating experience. Even if that suffices, other benefits also emerge. Schwartz commences Swann's Way with a contextual and historical exposition of the personalities, politics, and relevant Supreme Court decisions which impinged upon the Swann case. Necessarily, the focus of Swann's Way reaches beyond the Supreme Court to encompass litigants, attorneys, politicians, and lower federal courts. This enterprise is intrinsically valu- able. Pursuing a broader, rather than an isolated and insulated, approach yields a more sensitive appraisal of the Supreme Court and its decisions. An array of excellent book-length models, each devoted to a particular Supreme Court case, is available to illustrate how this can be achieved.3 Unfortunately, Professor 1402 U.S. 1 (1971). 2 Portions of internal information illustrating the Supreme Court's decisionmaking process have been disclosed in, e.g., A. Bickel, The Unpublished Opinions of Mr. Justice Brandeis: The Supreme Court at Work (1957); B. Schwartz, The Unpublished Opinions of the Warren Court (1985); B. Schwartz, Super Chief: Earl Warren and His Supreme Court-A Judicial Biography (1983); Lusky, Footnote Redux: A Carolene Products Reminiscence, 82 Colum. L. Rev. 1093, 1096-98, 1106-10 (1982). Book-length treatment of Supreme Court cases include, e.g., D. Fehrenbacher, The Dred Scott Case: Its Significance in American Law and Politics (1978); P. Irons, Justice at War (1983); R. Kluger, Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America's Struggle for Equality (1975); M. Marcus, Truman and the Steel Seizure Case: The Limits of Presidential Power (1977).

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