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MPR News Staff

LBJ, Nixon and the Supreme Court

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President Richard Nixon, to his left is Chief Justice Earl Warren.
President Richard Nixon take the oath of office at the White House on Jan. 20, 1969. To his left is Chief Justice Earl Warren.
Fox Photos | Hulton Archive | Getty Images 1969

Historian Laura Kalman explained how former President Lyndon Johnson helped create a historically liberal Supreme Court and how former President Richard Nixon's efforts to dismantle it helped create that politicized nomination process we see today.

Kalman is a distinguished professor of history at the University of California, Santa-Barbara. She is also an award-winning historian and author of numerous articles and several books including "The Long Reach of the Sixties: LBJ, Nixon, and the Making of the Contemporary Supreme Court." She spoke at the History Forum at Minnesota History Center Feb. 24.

After Justice Earl Warren announced his retirement in 1968, liberals looked to President Johnson to continue Warren's legacy of judicial activism. Conservatives geared up to destroy it.

In this speech, Kalman discussed how the Supreme Court changed drastically after Warren retired, how it operated in tandem with the presidency, and how presidents went about selecting their nominees after the early 1960s.

To hear the entire presentation, click the audio player above.