ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the interactions between the courts and presidents or state governors. Over various periods in history sometimes the Supreme Court has supported the president's positions, sometimes it has supported the position of Congress, and sometimes it has been in conflict with both at the same time. Presidents Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt all had very tense relationships with the Supreme Court because these presidents felt that the Court was blocking their necessary policy initiatives. More and more liberals are attacking the US Supreme Court for its conservative activist decisions. President Barack Obama has certainly strongly criticized various Supreme Court decisions with which he disagrees. Presidents have historically attacked specific Supreme Court decisions with which they disagreed, but the Court has also become an issue in many presidential election campaigns. The chapter then discusses the modern-day attacks on the Supreme Court from conservatives as well as from President Obama.
