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 the North America, United States

Justice on the Brink, by Linda Greenhouse (2021)

Read: August 21, 2022

5 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

 

Books Set in the United States

Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination that Changed America, by Will Haywood (2015)

Showdown, by Wil Haywood describes the nearly month-long confirmation of Thurgood Marshall to the United States Supreme Court.  In 1967, President Lyndon Johnson was determined to appoint a Black man to the High Court.  Thurgood Marshall had made a name for himself as being a highly-talented attorney who had argued many civil rights cases before the High Court.

The Civil Rights were a hot button political issue in the United States in the 1960s.  As determined as Johnson was to appoint a Black to the Supreme Court, were the several Southern arch-segregationist senators equally as determined to keep Marshall off the Bench.  The Senate Judiciary Committee was headed by Mississippi Senator James Eastland.  Other senators recognized Marshall’s talents.  The battle by the segregationists, however, waged for nearly a month before Marshall was ultimately confirmed.

The author gives plenty of background into the players.  Several of the events that are recounted in the book occurred in Louisiana, although these are less well known than the bombings in Birmingham, and the sit-in in Greensboro.  The author also describes the events in Johnson’s life that led him to be a champion for civil rights.

I highly recommend this book as it gives a portrait not only of the events leading to the confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice, but of race relations in America during the 1960.

Read:  July 9, 2017

5 Stars

Books Set in the United States: Washington, D.C.

The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, by Jeffrey Toobin (2008)

Who knew that a book about the Supreme Court Justices could be such a page turner? Jeffrey Toobin has created a fascinate book about the William Rehnquits Court.

Toobin first describes a brief history of the Earl Warren and Warren Burger Courts and the beginning of the civil rights movement in the United States. During this period on American history, the federal government played an expansive role in forming the country. With the election of Ronald Reagan, conservative ideas began to the move to restrict the reach of the federal reach.

In writing this book, Toobin interviewed some of the Supreme Court Justices (although he never names which ones provided him with the inside scoop), and many of their clerks over the years. The result is a remarkable insight into the inner workings of the Court, along with the petty scrabbles and grudges the Justices harbor.

The Justices in the Rehnquist Court served together for 9 years (from 1994 through 2004), which is the longest period without a change in the history of the nine-justice Court. In addition to Chief Justice William Rehnquist, the other Justices were Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Anthony Kennedy, Sandra Day O’Connor, Antonin Scalia, John Paul Stevens, David Souter, and Clarence Thomas.

Toobin describes how some of the advances made in the previous Court are being eroded. He provides careful detail of how such cases and issues as abortion civil rights, affirmative action and the separation of church and state are discussed and changed. Toobin describes how the individual philosophies and prejudices come into play in drafting the Court’s decisions.

The book is terribly revealing and anyone who thinks that the Court’s decisions are made altruistically will be in for a shock. The reader learns such tidbits as how Clarence Thomas selects his law clerks, and how David Souter was devastated following the Bush v. Gore, so much so that he nearly resigned from the Court. The reason given for his remaining on the Court was due to his reluctance to forgo his full retirement if he left early. Toobin take a look into the philosophy and background of each Justice in turn.

The Nine also contains a fascinating account of the nomination process of John Roberts and Samuel Alito, who replaced William Rehnquist and Sandra Day O’Connor, respectively.

The book makes for interesting reading. Although many landmark cases are discussed, the reader does not need to have a legal background to realize the impact the Court has on American life. The Nine should be a “must read” for all Americans.


Read: July 29, 2010