Secret Lives of the Supreme Court: What Your Teachers Never Told You about America's Legendary Judges

Drugs, Adultery, Bribery, Homosexuality, corruption—and the Supreme Court?!?

 

Your high school history teachers never gave you a book like this one! Secret Lives of the Supreme Court features outrageous and uncensored profiles of America’s most legendary justices—complete with hundreds of little-known, politically incorrect, and downright wacko facts. You’ll discover that:

 

    •  Hugo Black was a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

    •  Benjamin Cardozo likely died a virgin.

    •  John Rutledge attempted suicide by jumping off a bridge.

    •  John Marshall Harlan organized regular screenings of X-rated films.

    •  Thurgood Marshall never missed an episode of Days of Our Lives.

    •  Sandra Day O’Connor established the court’s first Jazzercise class.

    •  And much, much more!

 

With chapters on everyone from John Jay to Samuel Alito, Secret Lives of the Supreme Court tackles all the tough questions that other history books are afraid to ask: How many of these judges took bribes? How many were gay? And how could so many sink into dementia while serving on the highest court in the land? American history was never this much fun in school!

 

The year 2009 should bring extraordinary changes to the United States Supreme Court. Justice John Paul Stevens is expected to retire, and Ruth Bader Ginsberg may well follow suit. With a new president choosing their replacements, it's the perfect time for Secret Lives of the Supreme Court-an irreverent look at the lives, personalities, and history of this exclusive club, with profiles of everyone from John Jay and William Howard Taft to Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and John Roberts. Readers will learn about their most important cases and their most bizarre personality quirks: Thurgood Marshall was a soap opera junkie, Benjamin Cordozo died a virgin, Hugo Black was a Klansman, Sandra Day O'Connor started a Jazzercise class for fellow lawyers, and much more. Complete with 35 irreverent portraits, Secret Lives of the Supreme Court will be a hit with U.S. history buffs and anyone seeking a fuller understanding of current events.

Robert Schnakenberg is the author of several nonfiction books, including Secret Lives of Great Authors and Distory: A Treasury of Historical Insults. He lives in Brooklyn.