Jeffrey Toobin · 384 pages
Rating: (14.2K votes)
“The result always mattered more than the rhetoric.”
“He did what good lawyers always do. He shifted his argument in the direction his audience was already going.”
“Toughened or coarsened by their worldly lives, the other dissenters could shrug and move on, but Souter couldn't. His whole life was being a judge.”
“He denounced self-pity and pitied himself.”
“Rehnquist was just reflecting his shifting role, from outsider to the institutional embodiment of the Court.”
“There were two kinds of cases before the Supreme Court. There were abortion cases—and there were all the others.
Abortion was (and is) the central legal issue before the Court. It defined the judicial philosophies of the justices. It dominated the nomination and confirmation process. It nearly delineated the difference between the national Democratic and Republican parties.”
“Purple prose attracts attention more than converts.”
“He saw the Constitution as the vehicle to keep ecumenical passions in check.”
“The dilemma facing Bush and the Republicans was clear. If Marshall left, they could not leave the Supreme Court an all-white institution; at the same time, they had to choose a nominee who would stay true to the conservative cause. The list of plausible candidates who fit both qualifications pretty much began and ended with Clarence Thomas.
… There was awkwardness about the selection from the start. "The fact that he is black and a minority has nothing to do with this," Bush said. "He is the best qualified at this time." The statement was self-evidently preposterous; Thomas had served as a judge for only a year and, before that, displayed few of the customary signs of professional distinction that are the rule for future justices. For example, he had never argued a single case in any federal appeals court, much less in the Supreme Court; he had never written a book, an article, or even a legal brief of any consequence. Worse, Bush's endorsement raised themes that would haunt not only Thomas's confirmation hearings but also his tenure as a justice. Like the contemporary Republican Party as a whole, Bush and Thomas opposed preferential treatment on account of race—and Bush had chosen Thomas in large part because of his race. The contradiction rankled.”
“Finally, the lawyer came to settle the estate. Mama,”
“Our Lord's descent from the holy heights of the Mount of Transfiguration was more than a physical return from greater to lesser altitudes; it was a passing from sunshine into shadow, from the effulgent glory of heaven to the mists of worldly passions and human unbelief; it was the beginning of His rapid descent into the valley of humiliation.”
“She tossed her towel on her dresser and turned to the bed where shed left her PJs. Only it wasn't just her PJs on the bed anymore.
Lucas, eyes wide, sat on the foot of her bed, about four feet from where she stood completely naked.
She squealed.
He laughed.
She dashed for the towel.
Once she had it around her, she glared from a still grinning Lucas to the door. "I'm killing Della!"
He laughed again. "I'm afraid I might have to protect her for this one.”
“I'll tell you who has a lot of money, and that's Manny. I mean, that kid is RICH. A few weeks ago Mom and Dad told Manny they'd give him a quarter for every time he uses the potty without being asked. So now he carries around a gallon of water with him at all times.”
“Everything I said was taken from me and altered until the story wasn’t my own.”
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