Secrets behind a system
Waliul Arefin chances upon some truths
The Nine
Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court
Jeffrey Toobin
Anchor Books
THE US Supreme Court is deemed as the conscience of the state and the highest body in the dispensation of the rule of law and justice. The legal and other democratic institutions of the country and elsewhere follow the path the SC shows. But in the book, The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, the writer reveals the untold and hushed up stories of the jurists, political parties and other state apparatus involved in various shady deals usually beyond the imagination of a layman.
The writer with his penetrating eyes of journalism and investigative approach gives us an enlightening joyride of the nepotism, naked influence of the state, the White House, political parties plus many uncovered and suffocating stories in the highest ladder of the justice delivery system of the USA. In the arresting and captivating tales of the Supreme Court, the readers are bound to be surprised by the underhand dealings in the cases in which influential figures of the American political scene and the legal system are involved in secret. In this context, the writer has especially mentioned the Clinton-Monica Lewinsky case, Clinton-Paula Jones case and the unforgettable role of Kenneth Starr in the Clinton impeachment trial. Moreover, in the presidential election of 2000, the role of the jurists in the Bush versus Gore case have been brought to light with ample evidence to suggest that the biased manipulation in crucial Florida and other states by the judges had catapulted George W. Bush jr. to the much coveted and most powerful position of president of the United States, much to the dismay of law abiding citizens around the world.
Apart from those events, the legal implications of the torture at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad and Guantanamo Bay where US detainees were held, American officials made much of the so-called war on terror. The legal issues involved here have been touched upon. The embarrassment of the jurists on issues of abortion, civil rights, gay rights and tug of war between the church and the state have found special space and importance. In between delineating all these events, the writer tells readers the history of the personal lives of the jurists, their role in delivering justice in a particular case, the inevitable clash between personal and moral obligation, their allegiance to the state, limitations, et cetera, which will keep them glued to the book and impel them into reading it at one go. However, the politics to take over control of the SC and its consequent conservative status with the passage of time have been outlined in brief by the author as well.
This is an enlightening work about the history of the US Supreme Court, its judges, secret political manipulations by influential senators and, last but not the least, the all-powerful White House. Readers with an interest in American history and politics are most likely to appreciate this magnificent work from Jeffery Toobin.
Waliul Arefin is a critic and history buff.
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