Supreme Courtship
Chapter One
Supreme Court Associate Justice J. Mortimer Brinnin's deteriorating mental
condition had been the subject of talk for some months now, but when he showed
up for oral argument with his ears wrapped in aluminum foil, the consensus was
that the time had finally come for him to retire. Thank God, his fellow justices
agreed-unanimously, for once-cameras weren't allowed in the Court.
Brinnin was a distinguished jurist who had cast some of the most consequential
votes of his day. But the sun had now (emphatically) set on that day. His mind,
once capable of quoting entire opinions as far back as the nineteenth century,
in toto and verbatim, was now succumbing to medication (for persistent sciatica)
and increasingly copious evening martinis. He had taken to summoning his clerks
in the middle of the night to tell them that there were moray eels in the
toilet. On another occasion, also at three a.m., he met them at the front door
holding a bag of kitchen garbage and instructed them that they must get it to
Omaha-without delay. (Justice Brinnin had grown up there.) It was when Justice
Brinnin ... read full excerpt from Supreme Courtship ebook
