Justice On Trial; The Case Of Louis D. Brandeis

New York: The Notable Trials Library, /Division of Gryphon Editions, 1993. Special Edition. Presumed first printing thus. Hardcover, quarter-bound leather. Very good. [6], x, 275, [5] pages. No dust jacket present. "This special edition has been privately printed for the members of The Notable Trials Library". This has been privately printed by Arcata Graphics/Kingsport. Film was prepared from the first edition of 1964. New type matter was composed by P&M Typesetting, Ind., in Caslon and Times Roman. The text paper was especially made for this edition by the P. H. Glatfelter Company. The volume has been quarter-bound in genuine leather by Arcata Graphics/Sherwood. endleaves are a specially commissioned design of Richard J. Wolfe. Edges are gilded: the spine is stamped in 22-karat gold. Cover stampings and design of the edition by Daniel B. Bianchi and Selma Ordewer. Introduction by Alan M. Dershowitz. Author's Postscript. Bibliography. Index. The author spent 18 years as "archivist and senior research scholar" at an academic science library. Derived from a New York Times article found on-line: The book starts with the era of relative complacency surrounding the Establishment. in January, 1916. William Howard Taft—one of its leading members—was teaching at Yale and lecturing on the side. The Danbury Hatters case had sent a union and its members into bankruptcy. The Supreme Court had held that a state could not outlaw the "yellow dog contract." There was war in Europe, but the opportunities it afforded for profits were so far its chief meaning in the United States. This is the setting the author reconstructs in discriminating detail. The stage is set for the bombshell of the Brandeis nomination. After it, the battle lines were quickly drawn. The fears of the Establishment were greater because Brandeis was the first Jew to be named to the Court. The campaign against him continued unabated until he was confirmed June 1, 1916, by a vote of 47 to 22. The book is largely an account of the testimony of those for and against him. Taft—later to become Chief Justice and in 1916 ambitious to be Associate Justice in Brandeis's place—played an ignoble part in the confirmation process. President Lowell of Harvard did the same. Elihu Root followed suit. These men—and their allies—had nothing against Brandeis but their prejudices. They played their cards deftly, making charges against Brandeis by innuendo. The 22 who voted against Brandeis included, of course, Henry A. duPont and Henry Cabot Lodge of the Establishment. George Sutherland—later to join Brandeis on the Court and align himself on the other side of most public issues—was also one of the 22. So was Harding, soon to become President. So was Albert B. Fall, whose name later was associated with infamy. Twenty seven, including Borah, did not vote. And so Wilson's courage and Brandeis's high character worn a notable victory. Some 19 nominees to the Court have been rejected by the Senate, and they are mostly forgotten. Brandeis, who was cruelly flailed and who survived, will live on in memory for the causes he espoused, some of which have survived him. If his causes in large part failed, his stature as a man, as an advocate, as a jurist, caused him to tower above the scene. He helped America grow to greatness by the dedications of which he made his life. This book is therefore an important one in the American story, and it is done with great accuracy and good taste.