Fortas

When Chief Justice Earl Warren decided to step down in 1968, President Lyndon Johnson had the opportunity to name two people to the court, raising Abe Fortas to the chief position and appointing fellow southerner Homer Thornberry to Fortas' former place. Just how that strategy fell apart and how the process of confirmation managed to destroy Fortas' distinguished legal career-a circumstance that remains topical and pertinent even today-are vividly illustrated as Murphy shows the political maneuvering and ideological barriers that led Fortas to resign. Murphy's enthralling study of Fortas' impressive government career, his legal philosophy, and the extralegal associations that led to his disgrace exhibits fascinating control of detail in the process of showing how politics and the rule of law intermesh. -- Booklist, July 1, 1988.