Book Review: Lawless
Here’s my review of Lawless by Leah Litman. Don’t forget to leave a comment if you’ve read it too, or if you plan to read it. Then see today’s writing prompt at the bottom of this post.
Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes by Leah Litman ended up being an unexpectedly timely read for Labor Day weekend and is as thorough and informative as it is alarming. Beware: this book is extremely depressing— and for that reason, I would recommend reading its Conclusion when you are halfway through the book. Seriously, if at any point this book starts making you feel defeated and depressed, read its Conclusion ASAP, or plan to read other books on voting rights and advocacy at the same time.
When I first started reading this book, I was skeptical of Litman’s integration of extreme snark and pop culture references throughout the book and worried it would turn off too many readers who aren’t Millennials or loosely familiar with jurisprudence and or the Supreme Court or federal court system. Or those readers who won’t understand or value the book’s deeply sarcastic tone. And that feeling never truly left me as I was reading this book, unfortunately, as I did need to reread several passages on several occasions (something I am certain most readers of this book will not do) to verify what I had read and what was meant or important to remember due to its tone and content.
That being said, I did appreciate Litman’s thorough yet easy-to-understand and easy-to-follow approach unpacking various Court rulings and what their long-term consequences have been: upending voting rights, human rights, government, and democracy itself. After reading this book, you will no longer feel like you are off-base for listening to your intuition that the Court no longer really cares about anyone or anything apart from those individuals and entities (the wealthy and well-connected) who donate their money and ‘good vibes’ to the Court and their rulings, which are no longer primarily based on the rule of law at all but petty grievances and bad vibes instead. And ultimately, the analysis and evidence Litman provides do successfully make the case that the current Supreme Court and its majority opinions are… lawless.
Overall, I would recommend this book to those who are interested in learning more about how and why the Supreme Court became a quasi-private political institution that is not currently working to promote or adhere to the genuine interests of the American people— as well as all citizens interested in maintaining democracy. But I would also recommend reading this book alongside books that focus more on voting rights and advocacy and what people can do as individual citizens to work against the Court’s current disenfranchising aims. Though this book’s Conclusion offers some calls to action, I fear they are not enough and that its content and underlying message should have been integrated into the entire book so that readers aren’t dissuaded from completing the book or participating in democracy or politics.
Here are some notable passages from the book:
“Advocacy and organizing might seem like small potatoes, but look at it this way: If criticism of the Court didn’t matter, why would the Republican movement be so worked up about it?” (p.224)
“Making the Court’s behavior part of public discourse is a way to reach people who might not know how bad things have become and how they might get even worse still. So have some fun with it! Meme the shit out of these guys (and Amy) — they deserve it!” (p.225)
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