Battle For The Marble Palace
Book Topics
Abe Fortas
Richard Nixon
Earl Warren
Lyndon Johnson
Supreme Court
Supreme Court Justices
Chief Justice
Supreme Court nominations
Robert Bork
Brett Kavanaugh
Merrick Garland
Strom Thurmond
Richard Russell
Brown v. Board of Ed.
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Battle For The Marble Palace

Faced with the pending resignation of Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Supreme Court’s longtime liberal kingpin, President Lyndon Johnson turned to his ally and longtime adviser Abe Fortas to become Warren’s successor. What Washington pundits believed would be a routine confirmation instead ignited a fractious war between liberals and conservatives eager to seize control of the judicial body. Michael Bobelian takes us behind closed doors to reveal the extent of the unprecedented machinations perpetrated to capture the Court, including LBJ’s removal of two justices to make room for his favorites, the Senate’s first filibuster against a Court nominee, Strom Thurmond’s airing of pornographic movies to showcase Fortas’s purported moral turpitude, and Richard Nixon who, in his zeal to win the presidency, stoked the fires of hatred and bigotry to transform the Court into a political weapon.

Book Topics
Abe Fortas
Richard Nixon
Earl Warren
Lyndon Johnson
Supreme Court
Supreme Court Justices
Chief Justice
Supreme Court nominations
Robert Bork
Brett Kavanaugh
Merrick Garland
Strom Thurmond
Richard Russell
Brown v. Board of Ed.

Reviews and Comments

  • I learned something I didn’t know on almost every page.

    Author of The Unraveling of America: A History of Liberalism in the 1960s
  • If you don’t like what’s become of the process, a pox belongs on both political parties. This thoughtful book explains why.

    Former legal affairs editor at Newsweek and author of The Most Dangerous Branch: Inside the Supreme Court's Assault on the Constitution
  • This is the origin story of our modern brand of hyper-politicized Supreme Court nomination battles. Michael Bobelian’s talents as a legal historian are matched by his storyteller’s flair.

    Former executive editor, American Lawyer magazine
  • A gifted writer, Michael Bobelian offers a thoroughly researched narrative on the modern nomination process.

    Author of Southern Manifesto: Massive Resistance and the Fight to Preserve Segregation
  • Battle for the Marble Palace tells a very important story with fresh insight and perspective about a time when a sinkhole first developed at the busy intersection of politics and the judiciary.

    Former Supreme Court reporter at The Wall Street Journal and co-author of Justice Brennan: Liberal Champion
  • Michael Bobelian presents this history with compelling portraits. … This has been a forgotten story of the Court, and he tells it in a highly readable fashion.

    Author of The Warren Court and American Politics