Trial Magazine

Without Precedent: Chief Justice John Marshall and His Times
Joel Richard Paul
Riverhead Books
penguinrandomhouse.com
512 pp., $30

Sometimes called the “great Chief Justice,” John Marshall’s legacy looms large over constitutional jurisprudence. Joel Richard Paul, a University of California Hastings School of Law professor, documents the events that shaped Marshall’s understanding of the law—from his service in the Continental Army to the role that perjury may have played in the Marbury v. Madison deliberations. Paul describes the life of a man “who creatively navigated his way through a thicket of domestic and international controversies.” Under Marshall’s leadership—despite being the only Federalist justice surrounded by rival Democratic-Republicans—the U.S. Supreme Court consistently found ways to reach consensus: It issued more than 1,000 decisions over 34 years, most of which were unanimous.