Closed Chambers: The First Eyewitness Account Of The Epic Struggles Inside The Supreme Court,New

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 Thirtysix Law Clerks Each Year, The Best And Brightest Of The Nations 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 Worksand Why It Often Fails The Country And The Cause Of Justice. In This Groundbreaking Book, Awardwinning Historian Edward Lazarus, A Former Clerk To Justice Harry A. Blackmun, Guides The Reader Through The Courts 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 Critiquejustice By Justiceof A Court At War With Itself And In Neglect Of Its Constitutional Duties.From The Conservative Chief Justice Rehnquists Apparent Attempt To Influence The 1992 Election By Delaying A Crucial Abortion Case To Liberal Champion Justice William Brennans Illconceived And Ultimately Selfdefeating Campaign To Sabotage The Death Penalty, Lazaruss Riveting Account Shows Us A Court Broken Into Scheming Factions Whose Members Resort To Crass Political Calculations And Transparently Hypocritical 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 Courts 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.