1 comments about A Justice for All: William J. Brennan, Jr., and the Decisions That Transformed America.

1. Although few people knew his name, Supreme Court Justice William Brennan became a force of history. Applying his belief that the Constitution and Bill of Rights was written for all Americans, Brennan shaped the nation by attaining majorities is such cases as Roe v. Wade and Texas v. Johnson (flag burning). His legacy is one of justice and equality, of cooperation and liberty, of criminal rights and human rights, of compassion, moral rectitude and courage. If you do not know this man, you do not know the greatest force in constitutional law this American century has ever seen. Kim Eisler, using various sources, opened a window through which every American can see the Court, and one of its most important jurists, in langauge we can all understand. The best book on the Supreme Court (and a supreme Justice) I have ever read.

1 comments about Harry A. Blackmun: The Outsider Justice.

1. The author has written extensively on the Supreme Court, including biographies of Harlan I and II, and especially his fine book on Justice Souter (also reviewed on Amazon), as well as one of the ABC-CLIO Supreme Court handbooks on the Burger Court where Justice Blackmun served most of his tenure on the Court. The book is typical Yarbrough: comprehensive research; clarity of analysis; some suggestive insights into the subject. The book begins with Blackmun's formative years, follows him to Harvard and Harvard Law, his early friendship with Warren Burger, the critical clerkship with Judge Sanborn of the 8th Circuit;his career as a Minnesota lawyer (especially resident counsel at Mayo Clinic during 1950-1959) and his appointment to the Eighth Circuit and his service thereupon. So, by the time Blackmun makes it to the big Court, which is at the 141 page mark, readers can really feels they have a good grasp of Blackmun, his character, strengths, and weaknesses. Thereby, the author avoids a mistake frequently encountered in judicial biographies of rushing through the pre-Court career to concentrate on the years as a Justice.
   
   I found the chapter on chamber procedures especially interesting. The author discusses Blackmun's preference for clerks writing first drafts of opinions, a practice he initiated on the Circuit, and raises always the key question re Blackmun: was he the author or editor of his opinions? He analyzes the firestorm that emerged when various articles and Linda Greenhouse's biography of Blackmun, based upon his papers, disclosed his heavy reliance upon clerks. Also, of course, of great interest is his discussion of Blackmun's deteriorating relationship with Burger. The book also discusses Blackmun's key decisions, including "Roe v. Wade," although I think more attention could have been devoted to the prolonged drafting torment Blackmun endured while working on the opinion at Mayo.
   
   Blackmun emerges as somewhat a solid but not brilliant Justice, inclined to be conservative in his judgments, but willing to modify his positions (such as on the death penalty) over time. The author finds him always to have been a somewhat insecure individual, unsure of his own talents, but always a very hard worker. In the final chapters, the author returns to the issue of who "sculpted" Blackmun's jurisprudence, he or his clerks, since more studies based on his paper have emerged. The oral history interviews with former clerk Harold Koh of Yale Law School are discussed and afford some valuable insights. My only concern with the book is that the author almost totally ignores Linda Greenhouse's fine book on Blackmun, perhaps because he is upset that she was granted exclusive early access to this treasurehouse of information by Blackmun's family (see p. 341). This is most puzzling given the author's otherwise impeccable research. This is, however, but a tiny blemish--the book is a major achievement and adds substantially to our understanding of Blackmun the man and Justice and his role on the Court.

No comments about Without Precedent: The Life of Susie Marshall Sharp.

5 comments about Justice for All: Earl Warren and the Nation He Made.

1. I found this book in the bargain bin at the university bookstore last December and bought it for $4 (Canadian) as a holiday or end of term present for myself. I ended up finally reading it this past June, while on vacation. The book is a lengthy one and well-researched.
   
   I ate this book up and have dog-eared a few sections (Brown case and some others) for teaching the Supreme Court sections of my American Politics courses. The book does so many things and I'll note a few: shed light on the multi-faceted politics of a liberal Republican prosecutor, California Governor, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
   
   The Warren Court really did help make the nation with decisions on so many important cases. I have a broader affinity for Warren after reading this book. The book also explored the relationship or lack thereof between Warren and Nixon. The book's coverage of Nixon was honest and unfavorable, which was insightful to read about the sparring between the two men.
   
   This book is great for anyone interested in the law, California history, Supreme Court history, or American Politics. The book's tone is written for a learned lay audience or an academic one examining the history or psychology of the Court and decision-making.



2. This is a remarkable book of Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in the 1950s and 1960s. The author does a superb job describing both the personal feelings and professional dealings of one of the US's most notable (or notorious, depending on your perspective) activist judges. Few these days remembers him as the Republican governor of California and vice presidential candidate, and that era gets extensive treatment, laying out the roots of his judicial philosophy The book clearly presents the arguments of why Warren was such a success at judicial consensus building and therefore one of the most effective supreme court justices. Interestingly, the book also has one of the most rational descriptions of the Warren commission buried within its pages (explaining both the strengths and weaknesses of their process) and does not try to hide the warts of the man. This book is a fantastic learning opportunity.



3. I grew up in a neighborhood and a time when "Impeach Earl Warren" signs were common. As an engaged teenager I closely followed the changing legal landscape of the late fifties and early sixties as the Warren Court rearranged the legal landscape and with it the social order of our nation in the areas of civil rights, criminal justice, freedom of speech, privacy and the role of religion in public schools. Even today as a practicing attorney I admit to strong philosophical disagreements with some of the Warren Court decisions. Having said that, Jim Newton has produced a masterpiece in his book "Justice for All."
   
   First, this book is a marvelous biography of one of the most notorious men of the 20th century. From humble beginnings in the dusty backwater of a turn of the century Bakersfield, California to Chief Justice of perhaps the most influential court in the world, Earl Warren's story is compelling. In addition you are treated to a wonderful and readable history of California politics in the first half of the 20th Century, a time of unparalleled opportunity, growth and change in the Golden State. That alone is worth the read.
   
   Nevertheless, the real gold nuggets of this book lie in its recounting of the internal politics of decision making within the court, as Chief Justice Earl Warren, guided not so much by legal principle but by what he perceived to be the "right thing to do", rewrote and redefined some of the most important constitutional issues of our time. While such a disclosure, poorly written might leaden the eyelids of all but the most inspired, Newton masters this task by writing a clear and easily understood layman's explanation of the facts, the legal and social issues and the courts resolution. I found myself excited, engaged and highly entertained by Newton's easily understandable prose. I was in a sense a fly on the wall as some of the most important legal decisions of the 20th century unfolded before my eyes.
   
   Warren is not portrayed as a flawless Deity (he after all recommended and supported the forced incarceration of Japanese American's in WW II) but rather as a multi-faceted personality whose core belief was in using the power of government to do good for the common man and whose political and legal judgment evolved to blend with and sometimes challenge the social and legal fabric of our nation.
   
   I was amazed to learn of his post Miranda concern (fueled by a very real and I would say predictable jump in crime in America after Miranda) that perhaps the court had gone too far in defining the relationship between those who would do harm and those who are ultimately charged with our protection. Thus while the basic concept of Miranda is appropriate and now fully integrated into the fabric of our legal system, later Supreme courts thankfully have more clearly defined the boundaries under which we balance the rights of the accused and the right of our citizens to be free from the terror of criminal activity.
   
   OK enough politics, after reading this book, I am wiser, far better informed and far more sympathetic to a man so many have reviled as the father of judicial activism. Such a label in the absence of context does a huge disservice to this huge man and his historical significance. This book provides a context and insight that far surpassed my expectations. Regardless of your politics or your view of judicial activism, this is a truly enlightening book worthy of your time.



4. I rarely give a 5-star review on a book. This one gets one for a stack of reasons.
   
   When I finish a biography, I ask myself if I feel like I know the person. I feel I know Warren.
   
   Another reason to like this book, it makes no bones about Warren's bad decisions, his support of the uprooting of Japanese in California in 1941. The author is not shy about criticizing Earl Warren.
   
   Finally, I am a layman. It is a tough task to explain complex legal decisions to a non-lawyer. But Newton does it quite well.
   
   One other thought: After all the learning I did by reading this book, it makes me quite critical of any and all the "teachers" I had in government and American History. They could not teach a politician to steal.



5. I received this book promptly and in excellent shape.
   The seller is great as far as I'm concerned.
   Charlene Kornblum

2 comments about The Great Justices, 1941-54: Black, Douglas, Frankfurter, and Jackson in Chambers.

1. A short book that falls between pure court history and pure judicial biography. It is for readers deeply interested in the U.S. Supreme Court as an institution, and highlights four famous justices as they interacted in a period now over a half-century past. Using this time and these justices, William Domnarski gives his view on how the high court really works.
   
   Douglas is given the highest marks, with Black, Frankfurter, and Jackson all found wanting in balance. The degree of national elective office political ambition alive then on the court will be a surprise to those more familiar with present day standards--as will the degree of animosity amongst the Brethren.
   
   While good for anyone in the legal or political science professions, I think most general readers will find this book a journey too deep into an ocean of past constitutional and personal battles.



2. This book is comprised of profiles of four leading Supreme Court Justices during the (roughly) 1940's through 1970's period. The author suggests he is dissatisfied with judicial biographies because they do not focus on the "dual nature" of the Court--i.e., the Court speaking through not only majority opinions but also via the individual justices involved in contributing to its opinions. Instead, the author posits the idea of "assessment-seeking judicial profiles" as a superior technique.
   
   The author's approach is highly biographical, with some attention to substantive legal developments, and heavy emphasis is placed upon patterns of interaction, agreement, and dissention. Each profile runs around 40 pages. Domnarski pays particular attention to the language of opinions, a task for which he is eminently qualified given his previous important work, "In the Opinion of the Court," which analyzed opinion patterns. I found that this perspective added considerable value to his discussion. After all, opinions are more than just words, but constitute attempts at persuasion and justification as well as explanation.
   
   The profiles vary in quality and impact. One problem is that so much has been written already about Black, Frankfurter, and Douglas. As a result, I found the Black and Frankfurter profiles, while interesting, did not provide new information or perspectives on the Justices. The profile of Robert Jackson, however, is quite impressive, since so little real analysis of Jackson has been written. Students of Jackson await the promised new biography of him by John Q. Barrett since a suitable judicial biography has been lacking up to this point. Domnarski has dug deeply in the record and produced quite a perceptive portrait of Jackson, though one that is perhaps too critical. It is hard to believe that Jackson became much more conservative and combative (as to Black and Douglas) after he was passed over by Truman to be Chief Justice and that this affected his voting patterns. We shall have to await Barrett's analysis to consider this thesis.
   
   I found the strongest profile to be, surpringly, that of William O. Douglas. Here the author had to face the problem of so much already having been written on WOD. Nonetheless, he has produced one of the most interesting discussions of Douglas that I am aware has appeared anywhere. His reliance upon the Douglas/Walter Murphy oral history interviews, done in the early 1960's, is highly effective; it is delightful to discover that all these transcripts are available on the internet. While Douglas certainly had his shortcomings, he stands pretty tall after Domnarski's analysis.
   
   The research is quite solid; the notes extensive; an appendix of voting agreement/disagreement statistics is helpful as well. I think the principal value of the book is for those not familiar with the existing literature on the four justices, because each study packs a lot of information and understanding into a relatively brief amount of space. But even experienced Court watchers can benefit from the author's perceptive discussion of Douglas and especially his suggestive analysis of Jackson.

2 comments about Closing Argument: Defending (and Befriending) John Gotti, and Other Legal Battles I Have Waged.

1. Bruce Cutler is a self serving loud mouth who spends an entire book telling us what a great lawyer he is. Given the allegations of jury tampering (which was the reason he was banned from representing Gotti a third time and may be the reason Gotti was acquitted the first two times) and his pitiful track record anywhere else where the true practice of law is required, it is no wonder he wrote a book - no one who values their rights and their freedom would hire this guy.



2. The cure for everyone tired of slick lawyers whose business cards should say "Have Word Processor, Will Travel." Cutler is the Method Actor of the Bar. He tries cases from the inside out, with no cynicism, no patronization of the jury, and no distaste for the client hidden under a barrel of glib professionalism. Cutler lays his thoughts and feelings bare in this book, and it's an inspiration. If you're in law school, reading it may remind you why you bothered. If you're in practice, it will inspire you to try cases. If you're a gangster, it will make you check your address book to see if you have Cutler's number. For everyone else, a hugely entertaining, edifying book about America, the legal system, the System, and a guy who has the b--ls to buck it and often win.

4 comments about Convicted in the Womb.

1. I bought this for my son. He feels that this this is a good book. It was very inspirational to him.



2. "Convicted in the Womb" is a deeply captivating too true autobiography that reads like the first half of the life of an untold number of African-American men in the last half century.
   The detailed descriptive analysis of the terms and concepts Niggerization, DeNiggerization, and AntiNiggerization is not only long overdue to the public, but gives voice and creedence to particularly those men who can identify with Carl Upchurch's
   LIFE Experiences and Mission.
   For someone like myself to live and breath my passion in teaching incarcerated teen boys in a court-mandated program called ACE - Adolescent Counseling Education, copies of "Convicted In The Womb" have now been placed into the hands of all my students. Through this story they can see themselves, each other, and how they place in the history of this country. They also have read and expressed that it's truly the first book they have ever read, and wanted to read!!!! This is a story to be shared and read together and discussed, because IT MEANS BUSINESS. This is a story that must be understood. People must be understood! It teaches how when we look at our personal circumstances, and then have the opportunity to look outside our life,"hood",and prison life, particularly through books, and then we can find our FREEDOM, our HOPE, our POSSIBILITIES, our ANSWERS, our WISDOM, OUR TRUE POWER IN UNITY. My students know that I care about them and demonstrate it by my fierce committment to AntiNiggerization. May the Youth of America read this book! May the people who work with Youth read this book! May the Prison Staff read this book! May our Spiritual Leaders and Activists read this book! May the High Schools and Colleges put this in their adopted book lists for VIOLENCE PREVENTION coursework and THE RESOURCE MANUAL for all students on how to help our youth coming up with the Community Work they can do to CHANGE our World for the better!!! And so May the Politicians read this book! May the Parents [who understandably worry about their childrens' safety and future] read this book. My students all know now that there are people all over this country changing things for the better, people just like them, and they have our support!!! My students are learning that the Womb is Sacred, we all as Equals are Sacred.



3. It has been about 4 years now since I read this book. To me it was an excellent autobiography and told a miraculous story. So, Carl, what have you been up to since?



4. Carl vividly describes his life beginning as a young child. The challenges he faced growing up in this society are dramatically expressed in the first paragraph of the book. This is clearly a story of hope and inspiration as it shows the struggles one endures in making positive changes in one's life. Carl shows how God worked in his life and how the impact of the Holy Spirit in one person's life can impact the world. Many inmates identify with Carl's life experiences and view him as a role model. Carl's story quickly invites the reader into his life and is difficult to put down until the last page is read.

No comments about Thurgood Marshall: Justice for All.

No comments about H.L.A. Hart, Second Edition (Jurists: Profiles in Legal Theory).

5 comments about The Best Lawyer in a One-Lawyer Town.

1. Dale Bumpers recounts his formative years with honesty, verve, and a wonderful sense of humor. Sparing us a blow-by-blow account of his years as an influential member of the United States Senate, Bumpers instead gives us the gift of riding along for the journey as he looks back on his life and remembers the lessons he learned from his father in Depression-era Arkansas. We enjoy a remarkable whirlwind tour -- through high school, college and law school; through tragedy; through the years of simultaneously serving as city attorney, family hardware-store operator, lawyer, husband, and father; through the many often-zany legal cases and clients with whom Bumpers worked; and, finally, through the decision of the young, smart, and genuine country lawyer -- inspired by his father, who comes across as a thoughtful, caring, and noble man, to commit to a life of serving others -- to launch a long-shot campaign to become the Governor of Arkansas. This is not a book for Bumpers to tout his influence on policy in Arkansas, although I discovered later that he was the only Arkansas Governor of the twentieth-century who, among Arkansas political scientists, achieved the rank of "Great." (Other Arkansas governors included David Pryor and, of course, a young man named Bill Clinton.) Nor is it a bogged-down account of Bumpers' years in the Senate, although he was for twenty-four years among the most revered members of that body. Nor is it a rumination on the trends of the times or the national character, even though Dale Bumpers was repeatedly encouraged to run for president and declined in 1976, 1984, and finally for the last time in 1988. Indeed, in an age where politicians discuss their political accomplishments and ambitions at length in their memoirs, with a cloying sense of self-centeredness that encourages one to forswear the genre entirely, Bumpers never discusses the intense-but-always-fleeting power struggles that define Washington, or why he always decided against running for the presidency. Instead, the book is a reflection a long, sometimes-bumpy, but always satisfying public and private life, full of vivid images, memorable episodes, and wonderful stories.
   
   What makes the book so appealing is its utter lack of pretense, Bumpers' genuine and unfailing respect for those who might wander across his book in the local library and spend a few moments with it. It is little wonder he always won re-election in Arkansas, despite the fact that his views tended to be more liberal than those of the state as a whole. ("Do you want to know why you always thought I was more liberal than I said I was?" he recounts asking an assembled group back home in Arkansas, as he was finishing up his last term in the U.S. Senate. "Because I was!") In an age of insta-political memoirs, Bumpers mentioned that it took him nearly four years to write the book, and it shows.
   
   Given our disenchantment with politics these days, we are constantly looking for a man on a white horse to save our political culture from itself. One wonders, however, what our potential would be if we moved past the cult of political celebrity, and searched for a leader who was confident but genuine, talented and humble, and most of all, good and decent, with an integrity and a generosity of spirit that reminds us of the best about ourselves. In an age where we are all looking for the next John F. Kennedy or Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton (Mitt Romney? John Edwards? Barack Obama?), you may, after reading this memoir, wonder whether we may better be served by searching for the next Dale Bumpers.



2. Senator Bumpers' memoir is truly a great read. The Senator is very candid about politics, honest about his life, and philosophical without trying to justify his actions while in office. In a day where it seems every politician running for office feels the need to write a book, Senator Bumpers has taken the time to write one after leaving public office.
   On a personal note, the Senator took time out of his day to autograph a copy for me on the occasion of my retirement from the Army.
   This is a very good book.



3. Dale Bumpers might be seen as a mixture of one part Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird), one part Jefferson Smith (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington), and a half part Abe Lincoln (at least he got the self-deprecating part).
   
   In his memoir, Bumpers presents his life in wry strokes from Depression-era Arkansas through the Clinton impeachment trial. When focused upon the Arkansas of his youth, Bumpers' writing rings with spry anecdotes and the merriment of a man who can laugh at what was once a scandal and present rural life with a fine eye.
   
   Unfortunately, the broad brush strokes of his gubernatorial and senate career reeks of sterilized gaps (or perhaps, hatchets slyly buried). Bumpers becomes jaded, cynical, and cautious in writing about Washington powerbrokers, condensing his memoirs into a string of dinner parties and public engagements lacking the same confessional quality. After multiple terms in the Senate, Bumpers recalls only two meaningful debates - Panama Canal, and the battle to save the Manassas Battlefield from becoming a shopping center.
   
   Bumpers' memoir is worth reading for the depiction of the rural South and a profile of a real-life career of a grassroots lawyer who did good and made good in the first half. However, concluding with Bumpers speech on behalf of fellow Arkansan Bill Clinton during the impeachment trial is anticlimactic, and the latter section begs for the same treatment as his earlier, less public life.



4. Great read by someone who knows how to paint pictures with words. Dale Bumpers is a true public servant, not a politician out for fame, ego, money, and sex. I first became aware of him in a lengthy newspaper article some decades ago that gave deep background coverage to his spoken eloquence and mastery of issues, beyond that even of most Senators. I have wanted him to run for President ever since, and I think his speech in defense of Bill Clinton shows what a loss we have endured in not having Dale Bumpers as a President, particularly in light of the actions of our current President.
   
   The Senator describes in his book how Arkansas was always competing with Mississippi in being at the bottom of the lists of good things, and at the top of lists of bad things, and how he strove to change that. I was born and raised in Louisiana, and remember experiencing the same thing with Mississippi, but don't remember seeing Arkansas on those lists frequently. I consider that to be a testament to the Senator's success in changing things in Arkansas, as he was born about 1926, and I was born in 1963.
   
   Lets hope a generation of Americans finds this work as inspiring as the author found the words of Harry Truman to him: "You should always remember that the people elected you to do what you think is right. They're busy with their own lives, and they're depending on you.... Get the best advice you can find on both sides of the issues, pick out the one that makes the most sense to you, and go with it.... Secondly, trust people with the truth. Politicians always have a hard time telling people the truth, rather than telling them what they think they'd like to hear. People can handle the truth, and you can trust `em with it." (p. 226).



5. This is an exceptionally excellent book, replete with snatches of humor and wise and poignant thoughts. It is indeed a memoir rather than an autobiography, and does not dwell much on the author's illustrious career as governor and senator. The best chapters are toward the end, when he tells of his crowning achievemnet after he left the Senate and gave his superlative speech in the trial in the Senate of Bill Clinton. I am glad he set that speech out in an appendix since I had forgotten just how able it was. This book is a great book, and one can recomment it unreservedly.