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.
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.
I suspect that more Americans would answer Judge Judy than would answer Taney.
Posted by: Chris W. Bonneau | 26 November 2006 at 08:58 AM
Agreed; what a silly thing to say. I'm only happy the book isn't about William Cushing...
Posted by: Christopher Zorn | 25 November 2006 at 10:02 AM
Stranger still because they weren't Chiefs
Posted by: Geoff McGovern | 25 November 2006 at 09:29 AM
I thought of the two Harlans and Fortas. Very strange.
Posted by: Geoff McGovern | 25 November 2006 at 09:27 AM