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A COURT DIVIDED

Name: A COURT DIVIDED
Author: Mark Tushnet
ISBN: 0-393-05868-9

THE REHNQUIST COURT AND THE FUTURE OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

by Mark Tushnet ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 2005

An incisive consideration of the Supremes, offering erudite yet accessible clues to legal thinking on the most important...

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Considering past as prologue, Tushnet (Constitutional Law/Georgetown) pursues individual Supreme Court members to analyze their thinking in some significant cases.

The Court’s announced positions do not represent neat divisions between such comparative liberals as Ruth Bader Ginsburg and archconservatives like Antonin Scalia, the author finds. Rather, the most important split is between hard-line conservative Republicans—Scalia and Clarence Thomas, for example—and the more traditional Republicans, including Sandra Day O’Connor and David Souter. No wonder the judicial branch has nudged the nation to the right, though perhaps not as far as the Chief Justice might have wished. Tushnet (Making Civil Rights Law, 1994) provides astute reviews of landmark cases dealing with such public concerns as the religious right, gay rights, abortion, affirmative action, free speech, and crime. Judging many of the justices in light of the cases upon which they opined, the author sees Clarence Thomas as unwilling to countenance any change in the 1789 Constitution, Kennedy as pompous, Breyer as a bit weird, Ginsburg as family-minded, and Souter as a modern man of the 19th century. Tushnet reserves most of the dissing for Scalia, described as “splenetic” and not “as smart as he thinks he is.” Legal stratagems are explained, the arcana of the law are rendered lucid throughout, and the author’s fly-on-the-wall coverage of the courthouse is quite credible. For the future, Tushnet concludes, we can look forward to more “borking”: that is, to the Senate vetting and ultimately rejecting candidates for places on the bench because of their on-record political convictions. We can also look forward to more politics: decisions based less on settled law, more on the political agenda of the executive branch, as well as on the agenda of the justices themselves. About the only thing left unexplained: those strange gold stripes on the sleeves of the Chief’s robes.

An incisive consideration of the Supremes, offering erudite yet accessible clues to legal thinking on the most important level.

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2005

ISBN: 0-393-05868-9

Page Count: 416

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2004

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.