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Cato Institute senior fellow Levy and lawyer Mellor, in this excellent examination of twelve far-reaching Supreme Court cases and their consequences, force readers to question the direction in which the judiciary has led our country over the past century-and possibly their own attitudes toward the federal government. The authors deftly navigate the complicated proceedings without slipping into lawyer-speak, while unapologetically leaning on their libertarian sentiments to color their commentary and analysis. Though the writers defend well their claim that the dozen cases under discussion-with a number of "dishonorable mentions" and an appendix each for Roe v. Wade and Bush v. Gore-have expanded the federal government and eroded civil liberties, one can't help but feel a creeping sense of arrogance when Levy and Mellor assert repeatedly that they know how the Constitution's authors would view the document were they alive today. Still, the authors' canny investigation into the Supreme Court should call into doubt some of the staid political viewpoints readers may have taken too long for granted.

“We have created a system in which nine people are presumed to be smarter than three hundred million. The Dirty Dozen shows us the results of this foolish assumption – the twelve worst Supreme Court rulings. Or, that is to say, the twelve worst Supreme Court rulings so far.” - Robert A. Levy

Robert A. Levy

Robert A. Levy (born 1941 in Washington, DC) is chairman of the libertarian Cato Institute's board of directors. He joined Cato as senior fellow in constitutional studies in 1997 after 25 years in business. He also sits on boards of the Institute for Justice, the Federalist Society, and the George Mason University School of Law. He founded CDA Investment Technologies, a major provider of financial information and software, and was its CEO until 1991. Levy clerked for Judge Royce C. Lamberth on the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., and for Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. From 1997 until 2004, Levy was an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University. He has written numerous articles on investments, law, and public policy. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, National Review, and many other publications. Levy has also discussed public policy on national radio and TV programs, including ABC ½s Nightline, CNN's Crossfire, Fox's The O'Reilly Factor, MSNBC's Hardball, and NBC's Today Show. His latest book, co-authored with William Mellor, is The Dirty Dozen: How Twelve Supreme Court Cases Radically Expanded Government and Eroded Freedom. Levy received his Ph.D. in business from the American University and his J.D. degree from the George Mason University School of Law.

William Mellor

William H. (Chip) Mellor serves as President and General Counsel of the Institute for Justice, which he co-founded. Mellor litigates cutting-edge constitutional cases nationwide protecting economic liberty, property rights, school choice and the First Amendment.

Under his leadership, the Institute for Justice litigated or helped pursue four landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases in a little over six years.  

Mellor co-authored with the Cato Institute's Bob Levy The Dirty Dozen:  How Twelve Supreme Court Cases Radically Expanded Government and Eroded Freedom, which takes on twelve Supreme Court cases that effectively amended the Constitution and yet are not well known to most Americans.  In The Dirty Dozen, Mellor and Levy argue for a Supreme Court that will enforce what the Constitution actually says about civil liberties, property rights and many other controversial issues.

Mellor personally litigated lawsuits that broke open Denver's 50-year-old taxi monopoly, ended the funeral industry's monopoly on casket sales in Tennessee, and defended New Jersey's welfare reform.  Mellor launched the Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago. He has teamed up with University of Chicago professor Richard Epstein on amicus briefs in many property rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mellor has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, USA Today, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, New York Sun, Boston Globe, New York Post, Forbes, National Law Journal, Reason, National Review, Investor's Business Daily, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, The Today Show, and numerous other radio and television broadcasts and publications.

From 1986 until 1991, Mellor served as president of the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, a nationally recognized "think tank" located in San Francisco. Under his leadership, the Institute commissioned and published the path-breaking books on civil rights, property rights, technology and the First Amendment that serve as the Institute for Justice's long-term, strategic litigation blueprint.

Prior to his time at the Pacific Research Institute, Mellor served in the Reagan Administration as Deputy General Counsel for Legislation and Regulations in the Department of Energy. From 1979 to 1983, he practiced public interest law with Mountain States Legal Foundation in Denver, Colorado. Mellor received his J.D. from the University of  Denver School of Law in 1977. He graduated from Ohio State University in 1973.

Chip is a board member of the Property and Environment Research Center, the nation's oldest and largest institute dedicated to original research that brings market principles to resolving environmental problems.