Wilson Cannon | Guest Writer
Publishing your first book can be a milestone event for anyone. For James Prescott, associate professor of Public Management and Criminal Justice, it’s the culmination of two years hard work.
Prescott’s new book, “An Examination of the Budgetary Relationship Between the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress,” examines the ways Congress could punish the Supreme Court during times of disagreement. The Legislative and Judicial branches of our government don’t always agree. In times where Congress’s decisions were overturned by the Supreme Court, they would seek revenge by slashing the Court’s budget.
“It was an intimidation tactic,” Prescott said. By slashing the budget, Congress couldn’t directly stop the Supreme Court from doing its job, but it could make things much more uncomfortable. Without enough funds for staff, office supplies, or even air conditioning, Supreme Court Justices would certainly get the message.
Evidence of this method of reprisal could be found as far back as the days of Jefferson, as well as in parts of the New Deal, and several decisions made during the Civil War. The end finally came in 1960, when the American Bar Association and Supreme Justices lobbied Congress to bring the practice to an end. Members of Congress are often lawyers themselves, explained Prescott, and they read their publications. As this imposes on the separation of powers it’s fortunate that this practice came to an end. “It’s possible that it could happen again,” Prescott said, “but it’s unlikely.”
Prescott spent two years running statistical analysis on budget documents and congressional hearings to create his book. “It gives me a great feeling of satisfaction,” Prescott said. There is no one publication that covers this large a period of time for this subject. “I think it is a data set that will greatly help judicial scholars.”
Prescott finished his book entirely on his own, but a new publishing professor raises the status of Austin Peay as well. Prescott has been a member of APSU’s faculty for over 13 years. He plans to write a second book on Constitutional amendment proposals that could have negatively affected the Supreme Court, and hopes to have it completed within the next two years.
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