Evolving Constitutional Rights: The Roberts Court and Criminal Justice

by Christopher E. Smith, Michael A. McCall, Madhavi M. McCall

Overview

Illuminating continuity and change in Supreme Court decisions

Evolving Constitutional Rights: The Roberts Court and Criminal Justice offers a compelling and in-depth analysis of how the U.S. Supreme Court has reshaped constitutional protections under Chief Justice John Roberts. Authors Christopher E. Smith, Michael A. McCall, and Madhavi M. McCall examine the Court’s significant decisions from 2005 to Justice Breyer’s retirement in 2022, revealing a complex judicial landscape where traditional doctrines are revised and fundamental rights are redefined.

The Roberts Court played a decisive role in some of the most contentious issues in American law. Due to several justices’ application of originalist interpretations, its rulings have reconfigured key constitutional protections—often in ways that expand the authority of law enforcement while constraining legislative power over criminal statutes. The trajectory of the Court’s conservative supermajority raises pressing questions about the future of constitutional rights.

Taking a rigorous yet accessible approach, Evolving Constitutional Rights breaks down the Court’s influence across the full spectrum of criminal justice issues, from sentencing and trial rights to search-and-seizure protections, Miranda warnings, and corrections policies. Using both legal and empirical analysis, the authors track patterns in judicial ideology, uncovering how the Roberts Court has not only reinforced conservative principles but also unexpectedly broadened rights in areas such as digital privacy and defense counsel obligations.

This timely and insightful book goes beyond historical rulings to offer a forward-looking perspective on the Supreme Court’s role in shaping public safety, legal precedent, and the balance of power in American government. Essential reading for legal scholars, policymakers, and anyone concerned with the future of constitutional rights, this new volume provides a clear and authoritative examination of the Roberts Court’s lasting impact on American law.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780809339730
Publisher:	Southern Illinois University Press
Publication date:	09/26/2025
Series:	Perspectives on Crime and Justice
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	302
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Christopher E. Smith, professor of criminal justice at Michigan State University, is the author, coauthor, or editor of twenty-four books, including John Paul Stevens: Defender of Rights in Criminal Justice, The Supreme Court and the Development of Law: Through the Prism of Prisoners’ Rights, and Constitutional Rights: Myths and Realities. He has published more than 120 scholarly articles. Michael A. McCall, associate professor of sociology at San Diego State University, is coeditor of The Rehnquist Court and Criminal Justice. He has published more than twenty book chapters and journal articles, including in such outlets as the American Journal of Criminal Justice and Pace Law Review. Madhavi M. McCall is a professor of political science and associate vice president for curriculum, assessment, and accreditation at San Diego State University. She is coauthor of Law and Criminal Justice: Emerging Issues in the Twenty-First Century and has published more than thirty articles in such journals as Judicature and Social Science Journal.

Read an Excerpt

Introduction

The U.S. Supreme Court plays a central role in shaping law and public policy in the United States. Through interpretations of statutes and the Constitution, the Court’s nine justices define protected legal rights for individuals. Their decisions also determine limits on the authority of governmental decision makers and institutions. The Court’s interpretations can change over time through the appointment of new justices who bring differing perspectives into the Court’s decision-making processes. Interpretations of statutes and the Constitution also develop and change as new issues arise in society. In the twenty-first century, the Supreme Court entered an era of significant controversy and change. There was a decade of extraordinary stability from 1994 through mid-2005 in which the same nine justices served together on the Court. Over the subsequent two decades, eight of those nine justices departed through retirement or death. The replacement justices, whose appointments moved the Court’s composition in a conservative direction, faced issues reflecting changes in society as the American polity became increasingly polarized.

By the third decade of the twenty-first century, the Supreme Court placed itself in the center of controversies affecting a wide array of policy issues. Not only did the Court issue decisions that dramatically changed existing law concerning such issues as voting rights, affirmative action, and abortion, individual justices generated questions about their ethics and impartiality by accepting valuable gifts and refusing to recuse themselves in cases that posed apparent conflicts of interest. These controversies occurred with Chief Justice John Roberts, a 2005 appointee of President George W. Bush, at the Court’s helm. Thus, snapshot generalizations of the Court invariably invoked Roberts’s name. For example, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) described the Court as taking a partisan political turn away from its proper role as a legal institution with his characterization of “A Right-Wing Rout: The Roberts Court’s Partisan Opinions.” A prominent legal scholar declared, “the Roberts Court is not just ideologically conservative, but often seems to be partisanly so.” Although frequently presented by both journalists and scholars, these generalizations tend to focus on specific controversies rather than systematic examinations of the Court’s actions. Thus, questions remain about whether such generalizations are accurate and valid for a comprehensive understanding of the role and impact of the Roberts Court.

Since the middle of the twentieth century, criminal justice issues have consumed a notable portion of the justices’ time and attention, often constituting more than one-third of the Court’s cases each year. In the twenty-first century, these cases raised issues reflecting new technological developments, such as the extent of police officers’ authority to search the contents of individuals’ personal cellphones. The Court’s cases also drew the justices into revisiting longstanding controversies decided in prior cases, such as the contexts in which police officers can search vehicles without a warrant and the permissibility of imposing lifetime imprisonment on juveniles convicted of serious offenses. The justices of the Roberts Court era addressed issues that profoundly affect the constitutional rights and ultimate fates of people drawn into contact with criminal justice officials. The justices are certain to continue to do so in the future, especially after the conservative turn in the Court’s composition led to greater assertiveness in reconsidering precedents established in prior Supreme Court eras. Are the previously cited snapshot generalizations applicable to the Roberts Court’s decisions and impacts on criminal justice? This book seeks to provide a nuanced and complete examination of that question through systematic examination of the high court’s decisions in this policy area.

Traditional legal analyses of the Supreme Court’s decisions focus on the interpretive approaches and legal reasoning expressed in the justices’ written opinions. Such analyses typically seek to identify weaknesses and inconsistencies in the reasoning presented in judicial decisions. In the chapters that follow, the examination of the Court’s criminal justice-related decisions employs the tools of traditional legal analyses. Yet, legal analysis can miss patterns and inconsistencies in justices’ decisions. Thus, the book’s analysis of these decisions also utilizes a social science perspective by providing empirical measures to track and compare the votes of individual justices during the Roberts Court era. In addition, the policy implications and human consequences of the Court’s decisions are evaluated.

[end of excerpt]

Table of Contents

Contents

1. Introduction
2. The Roberts Court
3. An Overview of Criminal Justice Decisions
4. Blocking Legislative Definitions of Crimes
5. Search and Seizure
6. Miranda Warnings and Right to Counsel
7. Trial Rights
8. Sentencing and Rights in Corrections
9. Incremental Conservatism or Accelerated Change?

Acknowledgments
Cases Cited
Bibliography
Notes

Editorial Reviews

This book provides an outstanding overview and analysis of the Roberts Court’s impact on criminal justice policy. It is timely, superbly researched, and well-argued. Highly recommended for anyone interested in how the Supreme Court’s rightward turn has affected the administration of criminal justice in the twenty-first century.”—Craig Hemmens, professor of criminal justice and criminology, Washington State University

“Beyond a doubt, the best and most comprehensive examination of how the Roberts Court’s criminal justice decisions are the culmination of what conservatives have wanted to achieve for nearly fifty years. The authors bring a rich legal and political science methodology to their research, ably documenting how the Roberts Court has transformed the criminal justice system in America.”—David Schultz, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Legal Studies, Hamline University

From the Publisher