Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court

by Jan Crawford Greenburg

Overview

"A tour de force...A fresh and detailed account of how the court works and, relatedly, how presidents decide who gets there." -The Wall Street Journal

"A fascinating look at dynamics within the court, showing how personalities and ideology can affect alliances and debates." -The New York Times 

The New York Times bestselling account of the most consequential shift in the use of American judicial power in almost one hundred years.

Drawing on unprecedented access to the Supreme Court justices themselves and their inner circles, acclaimed ABC News legal correspondent Jan Crawford Greenburg offers an explosive newsbreaking account of one of the most momentous political watersheds in American history. From the series of Republican nominations that proved deeply frustrating to conservatives to the decades of bruising battles that led to the rise of Justices Roberts and Alito, this is the authoritative story of the conservative effort to shift the direction of the high court—a revelatory look at one of the central fronts of America's culture wars by one of the most widely respected experts on the subject.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101202050
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/23/2007
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	767,121
File size:	589 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jan Crawford is CBS News Chief Legal Correspondent and contributes regularly to the "CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley," "CBS This Morning," and "Face The Nation," as well as CBS Radio News and CBSNews.com.

Table of Contents

Prologue     1
Day's End     7
Settling for Tony     35
False Hopes     65
The Devil You Don't     87
"The Youngest, Cruelest Justice"     109
Change of Heart     139
The Clinton Way     165
The Natural     185
"Except He's Not a Woman"     213
"Trust Me"     237
Deconstructing Miers     263
A Full Count     285
Afterword     317
Acknowledgments     331
Notes     335
Index     345

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"The richest and most impressive journalistic look at the [Supreme Court] since Woodward co- wrote The Brethren in 1979."
-Los Angeles Times

"A fascinating look at dynamics within the court, showing how personalities and ideology can affect alliances and debates."
-Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"More than any recent writer on the Court, [Jan Crawford Greenburg] seems to have mastered the arts of Kremlinology that are necessary to appreciate what goes on in this secretive institution. . . . Fascinating."
-The New York Review of Books

"A genuinely spectacular feat of reporting."
-The New Republic

"A fresh and detailed account of how the court works and, relatedly, how presidents decide who gets there. . . . A tour de force."
-The Wall Street Journal

Editorial Reviews

The richest and most impressive journalistic look at the [Supreme Court] since Woodward co-wrote The Brethren in 1979.

Los Angeles Times

A fascinating look at dynamics within the court, showing how personalities and ideology can affect alliances and debates.
— The New York Times

Michiko Kakutani

More than any recent writer on the Court, [Jan Crawford Greenburg] seems to have mastered the arts of Kremlinology that are necessary to appreciate what goes on in this secretive institution. . . . Fascinating.

The New York Review of Books

A genuinely spectacular feat of reporting.

The New Republic

A fresh and detailed account of how the court works and, relatedly, how presidents decide who gets there. . . . A tour de force.

The Wall Street Journal

Greenburg ends on a familiar but salient point. In tapping Roberts and Alito, Bush accomplished what has eluded previous Republican presidents: a pair of picks likely to remake the court in his own conservative image. Out of the confirmation process, Bush got his court, Greenburg got her book, and the rest of us get choice details about the court's inner workings.
— The Washington Post

Emily Bazelon

Law/politics correspondent for ABC, Greenburg picks apart shifting directions in the Rehnquist and Roberts courts. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

"The richest and most impressive journalistic look at the [Supreme Court] since Woodward co- wrote The Brethren in 1979."
-Los Angeles Times

"A fascinating look at dynamics within the court, showing how personalities and ideology can affect alliances and debates."
-Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"More than any recent writer on the Court, [Jan Crawford Greenburg] seems to have mastered the arts of Kremlinology that are necessary to appreciate what goes on in this secretive institution. . . . Fascinating."
-The New York Review of Books

"A genuinely spectacular feat of reporting."
-The New Republic

"A fresh and detailed account of how the court works and, relatedly, how presidents decide who gets there. . . . A tour de force."
-The Wall Street Journal

From the Publisher