Closed Chambers: The First Eyewitness Account of the Epic Struggles Inside the Supreme CourtTimes Books, 1998 - 576 páginas The Supreme Court of the United States is the most powerful court in the world. It is also the branch of our government most shrouded in mystery, misunderstanding, and myth.. Isolated in a marble temple, supposedly insulated from the pressures of politics, nine unelected Justices are charged with protecting our most cherished rights and shaping our fundamental laws. They are assisted by roughly thirty-six law clerks each year, the best and brightest of the nation's young lawyers, who routinely go on to fill the highest ranks of our government, courts, law schools, and law firms. Never before has one of these clerks stepped forward to reveal how the Court really works--and why it often fails the country and the cause of justice. In this groundbreaking book, award-winning historian Edward Lazarus, a former clerk to Justice Harry A. Blackmun, guides the reader through the Court's inner sanctum, explaining as only an eyewitness can the collisions of law, politics, and personality as the Justices wrestle with the most fiercely disputed issues of our time. Part memoir, past history, and all spellbinding narrative, Closed Chambers provides an intimate portrait and devastating critique--Justice by Justice--of a court at war with itself and in neglect of its constitutional duties. From the conservative Chief Justice Rehnquist's apparent attempt to influence the 1992 election by delaying a crucial abortion case to liberal champion Justice William Brennan's ill-conceived and ultimately self-defeating campaign to sabotage the death penalty, Lazarus's riveting account shows us a Court broken into scheming factions whose members resort to crass political calculations and transparentlyhypocritical arguments as they discard legal principles for bottomline results. The Justices further compound this cliquish antagonism by granting excessive power to immature, ideologically driven clerks, who then use that power to manipulate their bosses and the institution they ostensibly serve. Edward Lazarus took part in the Court's internal battles over the death penalty, affirmative action, abortion, and other momentous issues. Here, he weaves together past and present to show us in astonishing detail not only the tragic failings of the modern Court, but also what led to them, and why they are so devastating for the nation. Unprecedented in its revelations and unparalleled in the brilliance of its analysis, Closed Chambers is the most important book on the Supreme Court in a generation. |
Dentro del libro
64 páginas coinciden con Webster en este libro.
¿Dónde está el resto de este libro?
Resultados 1-3 de 64
Contenido
Acknowledgments ix | 3 |
A Clerks Eye View | 17 |
The Grand Canyon | 47 |
Derechos de autor | |
Otras 21 secciones no mostradas
Otras ediciones - Ver todas
Closed Chambers: The Rise, Fall, and Future of the Modern Supreme Court Edward Lazarus Vista previa limitada - 2005 |
Closed Chambers: The Rise, Fall, and Future of the Modern Supreme Court Edward Lazarus Vista de fragmentos - 2005 |
Closed Chambers: The Rise, Fall, and Future of the Modern Supreme Court Edward Lazarus Vista de fragmentos - 1999 |
Términos y frases comunes
abolitionist abortion law affirmative action Amendment's appeals argued attorney Baldus's Batson Boger Bork Bork's Burger capital punishment Casey challenge Chambers Chief Justice Circuit civil rights claims clause clerks conference conservative constitutional conviction criminal Croson death penalty death sentence decided decision defendant discrimination dissent Douglas draft Dred Scott due process Eighth Amendment equal protection equal protection clause evidence execution federal habeas Fourteenth Amendment Georgia grant cert Griswold Harlan hearing issue joined judges judicial jurors jury Justice Blackmun Justice Brennan Kennedy Kennedy's Law Rev lawyers LDF's liberal liberty majority Marshall's McCleskey McCleskey's memo murder opinion oral argument overruling Roe Patterson political potential Powell Powell's pro-choice prosecutor question race racial Reagan Rehnquist right to abortion right to privacy Robert Bork Roe's rule Runyon Scalia Souter stare decisis state's statute strict scrutiny Supreme Court term Texas Thomas tice tion Tompkins Tompkins's trial trimester vote Warren Webster White