What do you think?
Rate this book
FORTAS: The Rise and Ruin of a Supreme Court Justice
Captures the saga of a brilliant career gone sour in a chronicle of the nation's first Jewish Supreme Court Justice, who was forced to resign in disgrace, and examines newly acquired evidence concerning the case
- GenresBiography
717 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1988
About the author
Bruce Allen Murphy
17 books2 followersBruce Allen Murphy graduated summa cum laude from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 1973 and received his Ph.D. in Government and Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia in 1978. He taught Political Science and American History and Politics at Pennsylvania State University, and has been the Fred Morgan Kirby Professor of Civil Rights at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania since 1998.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 17, 2019
This is a long book at 717 pages. I read the hardback form of the book. Murphy traces the life of Abraham Fortas (1910-1982) from his youth as a poor Jewish boy from Memphis to his resignation from the Supreme Court. This book not only tells the story of Abe Fortas but also is an excellent study of the workings of Washington.
The book is well written and meticulously researched. Murphy attempts to present an unbiased view of Fortas, but I had an underlying feeling that he did not like Fortas. Murphy spends little time dissecting Fortas’s judicial opinions but spends more time revealing him as one of the legal whiz kids of the 1940s and 50s. I gathered rom the book the biggest problem Fortas had with the powers in Washington was that he was a long-time personal friend of Lyndon Bains Johnson. I must be getting old as I noted through-out the book I found myself saying “Oh, I remember that event or person”. Overall, I found the book interesting and I learned not only about Fortas but about the ins and outs of the workings of government.
I read this as a hardback book published in 1988 by William Morrow and Company. The book is 717 pages and also has photographs. It is well referenced with notes and a good index.
The book is well written and meticulously researched. Murphy attempts to present an unbiased view of Fortas, but I had an underlying feeling that he did not like Fortas. Murphy spends little time dissecting Fortas’s judicial opinions but spends more time revealing him as one of the legal whiz kids of the 1940s and 50s. I gathered rom the book the biggest problem Fortas had with the powers in Washington was that he was a long-time personal friend of Lyndon Bains Johnson. I must be getting old as I noted through-out the book I found myself saying “Oh, I remember that event or person”. Overall, I found the book interesting and I learned not only about Fortas but about the ins and outs of the workings of government.
I read this as a hardback book published in 1988 by William Morrow and Company. The book is 717 pages and also has photographs. It is well referenced with notes and a good index.
November 24, 2013
edited 11/24/2013 to correct an error.
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.) 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.
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.) 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.
February 28, 2011
Not a flattering portrayal of the Supreme Court Justice. Although he was a brilliant New Dealer, his ethical blind spots and inability to leave his role as an attorney "fixer" when on the Supreme Court doomed him. His stature was also no doubt hurt (at least in academia) by his support of the Vietnam war.
For people fascinated by Sen. Strom Thurmond, this book includes a hilarious chapter on the late Senator's campaign against "smut" that included movie screenings.
For people fascinated by Sen. Strom Thurmond, this book includes a hilarious chapter on the late Senator's campaign against "smut" that included movie screenings.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews