Harry Blackmun

Decision days appear to outsiders as among the most dramatic events on the Supreme Court calendar. One thinks, for instance, of Chief Justice Earl Warren, reading the unanimous opinion in Brown v. Board of Education in a courtroom pervaded by tension. But the real drama of Brown and other Supreme Court cases may well have been what went on behind the scenes. Rarely do the arguments of counsel--brilliant though they may appear to the courtroom audience--dictate the decision in an important Supreme Court case. Rather, the crucial argument in a case takes place privately among the Justices after the public hearing. Decision provides a unique behind-the-scenes look at the Supreme Court and how its Justices decide cases. Distinguished author Bernard Schwartz, described by The New York Times as "one of the nation's leading legal scholars," uses confidential conference notes, draft opinions, memoranda, letters, and interviews to tell what really goes on behind the red velour curtain. Cases and anecdotes, woven into deft discussions of the Justices and how they function, provide unmatched insights into our high tribunal. We read of the conferences where the Justices cast their votes, the decisions as to who will write opinions (one of the most critical choices made by the Chief Justice), the often extensive give and take of the draft opinion, and the intense lobbying between Justices that influences vote changes (it was Chief Justice Earl Warren's pressure on Justice Reed in Brown that made the final vote unanimous). Schwartz focuses on the Warren, Burger, and Rehnquist courts, providing not just vivid portraits of the Chief Justices themselves, but also profiles of many Associate Justices in action--including Felix Frankfurter, Byron R. White, Sandra Day O'Connor, William J. Brennan, Thurgood Marshall, and John Paul Stevens. And Schwartz includes an eye-opening discussion of the expanding role of the Justices' clerks, revealing that they are no longer merely a "staff of assistants." Instead, they have evolved into a sort of "Junior Supreme Court," which performs a major part of the judicial role--including the writing of opinions--delegated by the Constitution to the Justices themselves. Decision gives readers a privileged look at countless cases throughout the Court's history, from the Dred Scott decision to Miranda v. Arizona to the controversial decision in Roe v. Wade to United States v. Nixon (the Watergate tapes case). Highly readable, yet written with impeccable scholarship, Decision shows the Justices in action as never before. Everything you wanted to know about the Supreme Court and were afraid to ask is here, in a revealing work on the institution that has had such an impact on our law and our life.

"When, God willing, the abortion controversy is behind us, partisans of the pro-life and pro-choice positions are going to have to live together in this society. That is why, sloganeering and passionate polemics are inevitable, civil conversation is essential. And that is why The Silent Subject is such a gift to all of us at this point in the controversy." From the foreword by Richard John Neuhaus The essays in this work constitute a sensitive, public argument for a reconstruction of the confused--yet dominant--popular attitudes toward nascent human life and its value. Unlike most pro-life arguments, it offers no strictly religious or exclusively sectarian warrants for its assertions - instead bearing a more secular cast, speaking to a generalized and pluralistic audience. As a whole, The Silent Subject embraces no specific, particular political ideology. Its contributors have a broad spectrum of professional interests, political perspectives and social philosophies - all of which indicates the fundamentally humanistic and apolitical nature of concern for the unborn and the degree to which they are esteemed. This unusual book is a refreshingly candid and morally compelling analysis of the social forces that superintend our cultural outlook toward unborn human life.

Timed to the 25th anniversary of the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, Wrath of Angels is a very human story of the rise of the antiabortion movement, its critical role in the creation of the Religious Right, and the movement's ultimate descent into violence.

People on both sides of the abortion issue are no longer as certain as they once were about the moral, ethical, and political issues involved. Now, this responsible and timely work sheds light on one of the most important American social protest movements of the 20th century.

Jim Risen, an investigative reporter in the Washington Bureau of the Los Angeles Times, and Judy Thomas, a reporter for the Kansas City Star, are widely acknowledged as leading journalistic experts on the antiabortion movement and are two of only a handful of reporters specializing in the abortion issue. From page one of their riveting book, these two brilliant writers capture all the drama of the movement and offer answers to those questions that have long shrouded the issue in heated controversy: Why did the Supreme Court decision generate a nationwide antiabortion movement? Why was the antiabortion movement transformed from a largely Catholic -- and easily ignored -- movement of mild protest into an angry movement of passionate Protestant fundamentalists who filled up the nation's jails as a result of their acts of civil disobedience? Why did the movement turn to violence?

Since 1958, twenty-five men and two women have forced the Supreme Court to consider whether the Constitution's promises of equal protection apply to gay Americans. Here former Washington Post editor Joyce Murdoch and her partner, celebrated lesbian columnist Deb Price, reveal how the nation's highest court has reacted to these cases -- from the surprising 1958 victory of a tiny homosexual magazine to the 2000 defeat of a gay Eagle Scout. A triumph of investigative reporting, Courting Justice draws on interviews with justices' friends, relatives, and former clerks to offer an inside look at individual rulings and the often surprising context of those decisions. Murdoch and Price's careful research and passionate advocacy give us an inspiring new perspective on the unfolding of the gay rights movement in America.