The narrative unfolds as a compelling judicial journey, chronicling the remarkable transformation of Justice Harry Blackmun. Through clear and impactful prose, the book presents an inspiring story akin to a Horatio Alger tale, showcasing Blackmun's evolution and the complexities of his judicial career. The engaging storytelling captivates readers, making it a true page-turner that offers both insight and intrigue.
The gripping story of the Supreme Court’s transformation from a measured institution of law and justice into a highly politicized body dominated by a right-wing supermajority, told through the dramatic lens of its most transformative year, by the Pulitzer Prize–winning law columnist for The New York Times—with a new preface by the author “A dazzling feat . . . meaty, often scintillating and sometimes scary . . . Greenhouse is a virtuoso of SCOTUS analysis.”—The Washington Post In Justice on the Brink, legendary journalist Linda Greenhouse gives us unique insight into a court under stress, providing the context and brilliant analysis readers of her work in The New York Times have come to expect. In a page-turning narrative, she recounts the twelve months when the court turned its back on its legacy and traditions, abandoning any effort to stay above and separate from politics. With remarkable clarity and deep institutional knowledge, Greenhouse shows the seeds being planted for the court’s eventual overturning of Roe v. Wade, expansion of access to guns, and unprecedented elevation of religious rights in American society. Both a chronicle and a requiem, Justice on the Brink depicts the struggle for the soul of the Supreme Court, and points to the future that awaits all of us.
For thirty years, Linda Greenhouse, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The U.S. Supreme Court: A Very Short Introduction, chronicled the activities of the justices as the Supreme Court correspondent for the New York Times. In this concise volume, she draws on her deep knowledge of the court's history as well as of its written and unwritten rules to show the reader how the Supreme Court really works.
A Pulitzer Prize winning reporter who covered the Supreme Court for The New York Times, Linda Greenhouse trains an autobiographical lens on a moment of transition in U.S. journalism. Calling herself an accidental activist, she raises urgent questions about the role of journalists as citizens and participants in the world around them.
How do cases get to the U.S. Supreme Court? How do the justices go about deciding them? What special role does the chief justice play? What do the law clerks do? How does the court relate to the other branches of government? Linda Greenhouse answers these questions and more by depicting the justices as they confront deep constitutional issues or wrestle with the meaning of confusing federal statutes. The third edition tracks the recent changes in the Court's makeup, including the landmark decisions of the Obama and Trump eras and the emergence of a conservative supermajorty.