Books Set in North America; Washington, D.C.

6-3 and 5-4: Betrayal from Within, by Barry Robbins (2025)

This book explores narrow U.S. Supreme Court decisions, like 6-3 or 5-4 splits, hence the title.  The author takes the position that such narrow decisions are acts of internal betrayal.  He argues that these decisions transform legal doctrine into personal, emotional narratives as these rulings hollow out constitutional rights and impact everyday lives, and have profound human consequences.  The book is broken down into Individual Rights, Voting Rights, Regulatory Matters, Second Amendment, Civil Rights, Labor Rights and concludes with Executive Powers.  The analysis is written in a unique manner, from the perspective of the rights or issue in first person.

Read:  December 26, 2026

4 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States

Supreme Inequality: The Supreme Court’s Fifty-Year Battle for a More Unjust America, by Adam Cohen (2020)

If anyone thought the United States Supreme Court was a neutral branch of government, this well-researched and through book will quickly dispel anyone of that notion.  The author argues that the Warren Court of the 1950s and ‘60s was an anomaly.  From the moment Chief Justice Earl Warren retired in 1969, the Court has been eroding the rights of individual Americans in favor of corporations.

The author cites case after case after case in which the High Court of the land ruled against individual Americans in favor of wealthy businesses and institutions.  The author analyzes how the Court eviscerated laws designed to protect the poor, how laws designed to end racial discrimination have been upended, how challenges to campaign spending have been upheld, and how the criminal system has been eroded.  Cohen argues, with the backing of Court decisions, that Supreme Court has become more and more political.  Occasionally, the Court decisions have been so egregious, that Congress has stepped in to make corrections, as in the Lilly Ledbetter Act, for instance.  More often than not, however, the Court decision stands (Citizens United, which held that corporations are “persons” and that campaign contributions are a form of Free Speech under the First Amendment.)

The book ends with the conclusion that the Supreme Court’s decisions are more than just legal statements – they are the blueprints for building American life.  Recent decisions are widening the gap between the “haves” and “have nots.”  The gap will continue to widen until, and unless, those who have recognize this and take action to be more compassionate towards their fellow citizens.

The book was well written, and the non-lawyer will easily understand the synopsis of the decisions sited.  The book will, however, make the reader angry.  It doesn’t paint a pretty picture of the state of the Country.

Read: January 12, 2022

4 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States

Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World, by Linda Hirshman (2015)

 

In many ways, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg couldn’t have been more different.  O’Connor grew up as the only child of a rancher.  She got her start in politics by volunteering for her local Republican committee.  From there, she entered state politics.  She also felt it was important to cook and keep the home tidy for her family.  She held conservative views.  Ginsburg was essentially an older child (an older sister had died when Ruth was 2 years old) and became and ACLU attorney.  She had a husband how cook and was a strong advocate for her advancement to the high Court.  She was far from conservative.

 

O’Connor was the first female Supreme Court Justice.  As such, she had to face 8 male Justices who in their hearts really didn’t want women on the Court.  The author gives the impression that O’Connor, while a trailblazer by being the first woman on the Court, was tentative in her decisions and didn’t make waves.

 

Ginsburg, on the other hand, had a history with the ACLU advocating for equality for men and women long before she joined the Court.  She had argued before the Supreme Court numerous times and suffered only one adverse Court opinion.  In her advocacy, she was taking steps to advance the rights of women.

 

If anyone believes that the High Court is without politics and partisanship, this book will dispel any such beliefs.  The author describes both the politicking behind getting justices on the Court as well as the politics of the Justices during the deliberation process.  Although the title of the book suggests that both O’Connor and Ginsburg “changed the world”, cases following O’Connor’s departure began a slow erosion of the advances that Ginsburg had made as a practicing attorney.  Ginsburg became famous for her dissents, many of which she would read in open Court.  The author suggests that, perhaps in the future, Ginsburg’s dissents will become the law of the land.

 

It was an interesting book, and provides an insight into the workings of the Court.  The author attempts to digest many of the decisions in a comprehensible manner.  (Supreme Court decisions are famously vague to a non-attorney).  I did find parts of the book a bit dry, so had to put in down several times.

 

Read:  December 31, 2020

 

3 Stars