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Title: The Rehnquist Choice: The Untold Story of the Nixon Appointment That Redefined the Supreme Court by John W. Dean ISBN: 0-7432-3320-4 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.73 (11 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Politics, Happenstance, and William Rehnquist
Comment: Only in the last couple of years have all the tapes of Nixon's many conversations as President in the White House been released. The tragedy of Richard Nixon is that every time someone wants to think well of him, tapes or something else surfaces that shows his real unpleasant, dark, and unsavory character.
John Dean waited for the release of these tapes and along with his personal recollections during the time period has written a book that deals with the selection of Rehnquist and Lewis Powell as United States Supreme Court Justices. Its not pleasant reading for those naive enough to believe that Presidents seek out the most qualified people for appointments. Rather, the book exposes the process used by President Nixon to select two supreme court justices as frought with politics, bigotry, and regionalism. Nixon's bigotry about Jews, prejudice against easterners, and nasty language make this a book that someone who is very sensitive should not read.
The real shocker here is that before picking Powell who was a superbly qualified justice, Nixon first selected two candidates who could not even win acceptance as "qualified" for the Supreme Court by the American Bar Association Committee on the Federal Judiciary. Nixon stubbornly tried to get these individuals appointed until it became absolutely clear it was hopeless. Only at this point, did a real candidate like Powell get nominated. Nixon further abused the process by sending names to the ABA of other people he knew would never win approval.
Rehnquist had good paper qualifications to sit on the Supreme Court. However, it was known early on he was extremely conservative. He may have lied about statements he allegedly made expressing approval of racial segregation in schools. Dean presents the case for this. Its up to the reader to judge.
In the end, we are left gasping at the twisted and bizarre process which put Rehnquist on the Supreme Court. Even those who support Rehnquist and other conservative justices should wish for a better process to select judges. Hopefully, one day we shall see such a process and never see another President like Nixon again.
Mark
Rating: 4
Summary: An Excellent Choice-- You Be the Judge!
Comment: John Dean has written an insider's book that chronicles President Richard Nixon's appointment of William Rehnquist to the United States Supreme Court. It was without doubt a Presidency filled with history, and the appointment of William Rehnquist to the Supreme Court is an often forgotten part of that Presidency. The book is well researched and throughly documented with first hand material from the National Archives, including several verbatim passages transcribed from the infamous White House tapes that otherwise doomed the Nixon Presidency.
Dean brings us inside the "vetting" process used by the White House staff and Justice Department to select nominees to the Court. Dean floated the name of Rehnquist to several in the administration, including then Attorney General John Mitchell, as a possible conservative candidate for the Court as Dean had worked with Rehnquist in the Justice Department and learned of the Rehnquist's strict constructionist interpretation of the constitution. What was fascinating was that Rehnquist while toiling away at the Justice Department was tasked with "vetting' the other possible Court nominees chosen by the White House. Sounds much like the recent scenario of the selection of Dick Cheney as Vice President.
The book details the other nominees Rehnquist beat out for the coveted position. If anyone believes that politics plays no part in the selection of the members of the Court, then this is required reading. At times humorous and at times self-serving, this book is well worth the purchase. If you are not a Court watcher don't worry, you don't have to be to appreciate this book. Dean is a good writer and the text flows easily. Add "The Rehnquist Choice" to your summer reading list - you will gain an appreciation of the importance of Presidential nominations to the Court.
Rating: 5
Summary: An Insider's Look at the Bungling Behind a Historic Choice
Comment: During his first presidential term, Richard Nixon had the unusual opportunity to appoint four justices to the supreme court. This book tells the inside story of how the nominees were selected, focusing almost entirely on the selection of the latter two: Lewis Powell, a prominent Virginia attorney, and William Rehnquist, then the Assistant Attorney General to John Mitchell. Not counting the book's introduction and afterword, its main story covers just 35 days in the fall of 1971.
The book begins by telling how Nixon virtually created the first two vacancies. Essentially, Nixon encouraged Senate republicans to fillibuster the elevation of Abe Fortas to the Chief Justice position. Once in office, Nixon's men then staged a PR campaign to discredit Fortas, causing him to announce his retirement. Ironically, the legal precedent for investigating Fortas' business dealings was based on a memo written by Rehnquist.
If anyone should be entitled to write this story, it is John Dean. At the time, Dean was Council to the President, and it was he that first brought up Rehnquist's name, mostly as a fanciful suggestion. He recounts his experiences vetting candidates and some of his conversations as reconstructed from notes and memory. Primarily, however, the book is based on Nixon's tape recorded conversations in the oval office. Dean has done a good job editing these transcripts so as to maintain sufficient context without dragging them out too long.
What emerges in these conversations is a series of bungled operations and imprudent decisions. Before Lewis and Rehnquist were finally selected in the final two days before their names were announced, the administration actually selected four other candidates. Two were rejected by the Senate, and the other two (including a woman) were deemed unqualified by the ABA (although from the sounds of it, the female candidate, Mildred Lillie, was fairly qualified but discriminated against by the all-male panel). John Mitchell and his assistant Rehnquist did an abysmal job vetting candidates, so much so that Dean and another lawyer were sent by John Ehrlichman to independently interview the candidates in more depth. And Nixon himself seemed to base his choices on hearsay and surface biographical snippets, like the candidates' class rank or the school they graduated from. He paid very little attention to the candidates' actual writings or opinions.
One of the incidental but nevertheless shocking revelations in the book is the deep extent of Nixon's sexism. Recent tapes have revealed his racism and anti-semitism, but his low opinion of women is repeated time and again in the transcripts. For example he is quoted as saying "I don't even think women should be educated!" and "I don't think a woman should be in any government job whatever."
In the book's afterword, Dean makes a compelling case that Rehnquist lied under oath during his confirmation hearings, both when he was initially confirmed in 1971, and then again in 1986 when Reagan nominated him to Chief Justice. At issue were Rehnquist's activities in Arizona during the 1960's preventing minorities from voting, and a controversial memo he wrote while clerking for Justice Robert Jackson in which he urged Jackson to vote to maintain segregated schools in the historic "Brown vs. Board of Education" case. Dean argues that if Rehnquist had been better vetted and prepared for his initial confirmation hearings, he would have had ready answers to these questions. Instead, he was caught off guard and ended up lying in 1971, and then lying again in 1986 to maintain the original lies.
Due to Rehnquist's dishonesty and the profound effect of his rulings on the high court, Dean openly regrets ever having suggested Rehnquist's name to Nixon staffers. Although this fascinating book is about far more than just Nixon's selection of Rehnquist, clearly that selection was the most important from a historical perspective. In a sense, this book is Dean's act of repentance for his role in the Rehnquist choice.
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Title: Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush by John W. Dean ISBN: 031600023X Publisher: Little, Brown Pub. Date: 06 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: Wild Bill : The Legend and Life of William O. Douglas by Bruce Allen Murphy ISBN: 0394576284 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 04 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: The Politics of Truth: Inside the Lies that Led to War and Betrayed My Wife's CIA Identity: A Diplomat's Memoir by Joseph Wilson ISBN: 078671378X Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers Pub. Date: 30 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush by Kevin Phillips ISBN: 0670032646 Publisher: Viking Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Closed Chambers: The Rise, Fall, and Future of the Modern Supreme Court by Edward Lazarus ISBN: 0140283560 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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