Supreme Inequality

The Supreme Court's Fifty-Year Battle for a More Unjust America

By: Adam Cohen

Narrated by: Dan Woren

Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's Summary

“Meticulously researched and engagingly written...a comprehensive indictment of the court’s rulings in areas ranging from campaign finance and voting rights to poverty law and criminal justice.” (Financial Times)

A revelatory examination of the conservative direction of the Supreme Court over the last 50 years.

In Supreme Inequality, best-selling author Adam Cohen surveys the most significant Supreme Court rulings since the Nixon era and exposes how, contrary to what Americans like to believe, the Supreme Court does little to protect the rights of the poor and disadvantaged; in fact, it has not been on their side for 50 years. Cohen proves beyond doubt that the modern Court has been one of the leading forces behind the nation’s soaring level of economic inequality, and that an institution revered as a source of fairness has been systematically making America less fair. 

A triumph of American legal, political, and social history, Supreme Inequality holds to account the highest court in the land and shows how much damage it has done to America’s ideals of equality, democracy, and justice for all. 

©2020 Adam Cohen (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Critic Reviews

“Weaving legal, political, and social history, Cohen creates a richly detailed, but accessible, account for all interested in the personalities and politics that have shaped and are continuing to shape not only the U.S. criminal justice system but also the fabric of American life. A must-read.” (Library Journal, starred review)

“With Supreme Inequality, Adam Cohen has built, brick by brick, an airtight case against the Supreme Court of the last half-century. With his trademark precision and broad sweep, Cohen proves that the high court has created one system of legal protections for America’s wealthy corporate interests and a second for the poor and middle classes. By limiting the Warren Court’s fledgling efforts to protect workers, schoolchildren, criminal defendants, and voting rights, while inventing new protections for millionaire donors, big businesses, and polluters, the court has steadily contributed to the tragic inequality that is hollowing out the American system of justice. Cohen’s book is a closing statement in the case against an institution tasked with protecting the vulnerable, which has emboldened the rich and powerful instead.” (Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor, Slate)

“Brown v. Board? Roe v. Wade? Sure. But with Supreme Inequality you dig down and understand the real direction of the Court over the last five-plus decades. It’s imperative. And you can’t put it down - with not just the law but the stories behind the law. Don’t miss it.” (Peter Edelman, Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Law and Public Policy, Georgetown University Law Center)

A real eye opener!

This book should be a required and essential listen for every American across racial and socio-economic lines.

“Supremely Thought Provoking”

Fascinating, penetrating review of US Supreme Court decision making over the last 50 years and a profound indictment of the court is subservient to the top 1%. This broad review of The right wing court’s throttling of democratic rights, racial equality advancement , sexual discrimination opposition and community imposed corporate responsibility efforts throws water into the face of anyone naive enough to think the court works to the broad benefit of the nation or its citizens. The right has been using the court to make law and policy while the media and the left fiddle about unable to process their threat to our freedom or self governance other than when it comes to abortion rights. Perhaps this book will help us pay better attention.

An important book, especially now

The book got off to a slow start but is well worth sticking with. The author explains the background behind many of the important Supreme Court decisions that affect life today. He provides illuminating information about the life experiences of the Justices, about the politics behind their appointments, about how the thinking of certain Justices evolved during their tenure. The book supplies a useful backdrop to the current Supreme Court and to the critical decisions they will make.

Should be a Must Read

No matter how much you think you know about the Supreme Court's rulings there will be much to be gleaned from this book. The historical perspective is revealing. The book provides an accessible overview of decisions made over many decades. The narrator, Dan Woren, is exceptional, and subtle in his rendering of voices other than the narrator's. His is a voice one can listen to over many hours...not always the case with audiobooks.

How our Democracy has changed

Every American should read this book , unless you are in the ‘top 10%’ .
Chapters 7 , 8 & the Conclusion are sobering,

supreme inequality

excellent well written and documented book. chilling look behind the curtain of the supreme court and it's course to undermine America as we believe it to be

Good but unexceptional; many out there like this.

This overview of the Supremes is good but it is one of a crowded field

Get caught up on what's really going on.

I feel like my eyes have been opened. There are poor people in every society but to know that my people were dropped off at the bottom of society and are being kept there is just f***** up

Mindblowing

A real wakeup call of how the powers that be control the fate of the American people.

A must read to understand the current state of American iniquity, and what rules our decent into authoritarianism.

In wake of the January 6th attack on Congress, as well as growing global concerns that the American democracy experiment is failing, Supreme Inequality by Adam Cohen Can best be described as the receipts of The wealth inequality that got us here. It does not require a law degree to digest, nor is it stained With a polarization of many American discourses that prevent a point from coming across. It is quite simply decisions/motivations of our supreme court justices an the tangible impact that they have had.