THE AUTHOR MAINTAINS THAT THE AMERICAN JUDICIAL TRADITION DID NOT EXIST AT THE FORMATION OF THE NATION, BUT WAS CREATED DURING THE TENURE OF JOHN MARSHALL, AND LARGELY THROUGH HIS EFFORTS. THE FIRST EIGHT CHAPTERS DESCRIBE, THROUGH PROFILES OF LEADING JUDGES, THE COURSE OF THE TRADITION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. CENTRAL TO THAT DESCRIPTION IS AN ARGUMENT THAT JUDGING WAS NOT REGARDED IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AS AN EXERCISE IN MAKING LAW, BUT IN THE INTERPRETATION OF THE BODY OF PERMANENT TRUTHS WHICH WAS THE LAW. THE CORE ELEMENTS OF THE TRADITION WERE DERIVED FROM THIS 'ORACULAR' THEORY OF JUDGING AND ITS INTERACTION WITH POLITICS IN AMERICA. THE FINAL SEVEN CHAPTERS FOLLOW THE PATH OF THE AMERICAN JUDICIAL TRADITION IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, WHERE THE ARGUMENT SHIFTS. THE CHARACTERIZATION OF THE JUDGE AS AN ORACLE CAME TO BE DISCREDITED IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THIS CENTURY, THE AUTHOR MAINTAINS; JUDGES WERE ACKNOWLEDGED TO BE LAWMAKERS, NOT LAW-FINDERS. BUT THE CENTRAL ELEMENTS OF THE TRADITION REMAINED INTACT. THIS CONTINUITY WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY A SERIES OF SUCCESSIVE JURISPRUDENTIAL THEORIES THAT SUPPLIED VARIOUS CHECKS ON JUDICIAL PERFORMANCE. JUDICIAL REASONING WAS TRANSFORMED FROM AN EXERCISE IN LAW DECLARATION TO AN EXERCISE IN JUSTIFYING AUTOCRATIC POWER IN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY. THE AUTHOR SUGGESTS THAT THE EXPERIENCE OF AMERICAN JUDGES HAS SOME CONTINUITY WITH THAT OF THEIR PREDECESSORS IN THAT TRADITION. NOTES AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY ARE APPENDED. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED).