Stench: The Making of the Thomas Court and the Unmaking of America

Democratic political consultant Brock (Killing the Messenger) delivers a full-throated indictment of the conservative bloc on the Supreme Court, taking aim at politicians who enabled it, the Federalist Society that helped birth it, and the justices themselves. He offers trenchant criticism of each of the justices and—in the case of Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas—criticism that extends beyond their jurisprudence to their character and ethics. Brock begins with an infamous memo written in 1971 at the behest of President Richard Nixon by future Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell that outlined a plan to bolster American business and the political right, in part by reshaping the country’s courts. In Brock’s telling, Federalist Party leader Leonard Leo succeeded in implementing Powell’s plan, transforming the American judiciary and the Supreme Court into tools of the extremist right; Powell’s triumph culminated with the presidency of Donald Trump, who appointed three Federalist Society–supported jurists to the Court. Brock provocatively argues the current Court is illegitimate because it was enabled by perjury committed by conservative justices in their confirmation hearings, an election stolen by the Supreme Court with its 2000 Bush v. Gore decision, and Sen. Mitch McConnell’s refusal to hold hearings on the nomination of President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court candidate Merrick Garland. While stridently partisan, Brock’s argument is coherent and well evidenced. It’s a thorough skewering. (Sept.)