Quick - Name Three Former Supreme Court Chief Justices

Now click past the jump to see one of your three answers.

Did you say Taney? From this Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal, in a review of James F. Simon’s new book, Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney (Simon & Schuster 2006):

Even the most reasonably literate American may find it difficult to name more than three of the past chief justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. But of those three, one of them will almost certainly be Roger Brooke Taney, the author, in 1857, of the court’s most reviled decision, Dred Scott v. Sandford.

Allen C. Guelzo, “When the Court Lost Its Conscience,” The Wall Street Journal, November, 21, 2006, at D8.

If you’re reading this blog, naming three former chiefs was a cinch -- and you might even have named Taney. But outside of law, political science, and history professors, I’m guessing you’ll have to wait a long time to hear something other than Marshall, Warren, and Rehnquist. At least, that’s what my informal friends and family Thanksgiving poll suggests.

Comments

[Geoff McGovern]

I thought of the two Harlans and Fortas. Very strange.

[Geoff McGovern]

Stranger still because they weren't Chiefs

[Christopher Zorn]

Agreed; what a silly thing to say. I'm only happy the book isn't about William Cushing...

[Chris W. Bonneau]

I suspect that more Americans would answer Judge Judy than would answer Taney.