In this groundbreaking book, Anna Harvey challenges the assumptions that America's Supreme Court is independent from the elected branches of government and that independent courts are most effective at protecting rights. "Using innovative analytic techniques, Anna Harvey offers a surprising argument, that the Supreme Court responds to changes in the partisan composition of the House of Representatives. Her extension of the argument to raise questions about the value of judicial independence and judicial review in established democracies is especially interesting."-Mark Tushnet, Harvard Law School "A rigorous examination of the role of the Supreme Court in the American system of checks and balances."-Jeffrey A. Segal, Stony Brook University