7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Politics and Law Crash head first, and end in disaster, December 28, 2002
This review is from: FORTAS: The Rise and Ruin of a Supreme Court Justice (Hardcover)
Fortas was the ultimate insider, from Roosevelt on. He founded one of Washington's most prestigeous law firms, and became the lawyer for a vast array of clients, ranging from Peurto Rico to many large corporations who wanted something from Uncle Sam.
But his career will forever be defined by his relationship with Lyndon Johnson. More than Johnson's personal lawyer (which he was), he was also Johnson's political confidant.
Not surprisingly, when Johnson had a chance to fill a Supreme Court seat, he gave it to Fortas. Fortas did not want it, and Murphy's description of Johnson's ploy to force Fortas to accept Johnson's "gift" is one of the most telling stories I have ever read about Johnosn.
The problem was, once on the Court, Johnson still treated Fortas as both his personal lawyer and his political advisor. Fortas' relationship with Johnson may have gone un noticed, but Johnson decided to do Fortas a second (unwanted) favor, by appointing him as Chief Justice when Warren retired.
The tragedy of the Senate confirmation hearings form the center of this remarkable book. As a study in the raw workings of politics (presidential, congressional, and on the court itself), it is unsurpassed. Fortas' life was destroyed, and the Court was handed over to Burger, Nixon, and the conservatives. How would the law be different today if only Fortas had been confirmed?
If you can find a copy, snap it up. Such a superb book has no reason to ever be "out of print."
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Superb Biography, May 30, 2011
This is one of the best biographies I've read -- a fast paced, thorough, and fair look at a key member of the Johnson administration and a pivotal person in the mid-20th Century. It is simply astounding that one man had such a major hidden role in a presidential administration.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Symbol of an Embattled White House, May 27, 2011
Every president, during the last year or so of his term of office, tries to leave his mark on the Supreme Court if opportunity presents. Bush II was certainly provided with ample opportunity and in Alito and Roberts, he picked someone of strong ideological bent. The confirmation battle becomes in such circumstances becomes prolonged and vicious. The aspirant fails in his nomination bid and retires bitterly to the lecture circuit. Such is the story of both Bork and Abe Fortas, Lyndon Johnson's controversial nominee for Chief Justice (who, ironically, was already serving on the court as an associate justice as was Roberts.) The battle, even more bitter than the one over Bork, is detailed in fascinating detail by Bruce Allen Murphy
Although questions about his integrity played a part in his downfall (he eventually withdrew his nomination and retired from the court,) Murphy argues persuasively that as in Bork's case the rejection was primarily ideological. The struggle over Fortas raised the acceptable political temperature well beyond the norm, paving the way for fierce debates over Nixon appointees. (Thank goodness, or we might have had that great proponent of mediocrity G. Harold Carswell trying to figure out which way to hold a book, while sitting on the bench.) By the time of the Bork nomination all restraint was gone. Ironically Fortas was an unlikely candidate for an ideological firestorm. Inside and out of government he was the deal maker not the ideologue: the kind of man that friends like Lyndon Johnson turned to when they wanted to get things done. According to Murphy, this was precisely his undoing. Like Bork, Fortas became a symbol of an embattled white House who was eventually sacrificed in a struggle over the President's beliefs. The ultimate question is whether it serves the Republic by breaking with tradition and answering questions about how a nominee vote on a given issue, thus making a mockery of the idea that judges are independent of Congress and the executive. Presidents will come under increasing pressure to pick candidates who adhere to their own beliefs. What Murphy failed to predict was rather than increasingly bitter battles, the result was the bland non-answer hearings that have become the standard as defined by Roberts.
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