Description
Book SynopsisNo sitting federal judge has ever written so trenchant a critique of the federal judiciary as Richard A. Posner does in this, his most confrontational book. He exposes the failures of the institution designed by the founders to check congressional and presidential power and resist its abuse, and offers practical prescriptions for reform.
Trade ReviewThe book is an interesting and boldly written tour of the judicial branch of the federal government. -- Thomas Filbin * Arts Fuse *
[Posner’s] call to arms against originalism and outdated procedures in the American judicial system are as urgently relevant as they have ever been…
The Federal Judiciary is very much worth reading. Posner demonstrates beyond a reasonable doubt that originalism is a bankrupt legal philosophy. He reminds us that eighteenth century Americans could not foresee NSA spying, lethal injections, or public sector unions…Posner demonstrates as well that Justice Scalia, the emperor of originalism, had no clothes. Indeed, Posner cites several cases in which Scalia abandoned originalism when it got in the way of a result he preferred. -- Glenn C. Altschuler * Huffington Post *
Persuasive…Serious-minded readers who relish an intellectually challenging read…will appreciate Posner’s reasoning. * Publishers Weekly *
Posner’s newest book is a delightfully iconoclastic critique of ideas many judges and academics hold dear, full of interesting, original, and wide-ranging claims for reform in the federal judiciary and law school teaching. -- Victoria Nourse, author of
Misreading Law, Misreading DemocracyIn this book on the federal judiciary, Judge Posner takes aim at every sacred legal cow: the Supreme Court and its Justices; law schools; the existence, even desirability, of apolitical judges. His critique of the federal bench as dangerously enthralled to backward-looking judicial standpattism will be controversial, as will his proposals for reform, but they cannot be ignored. -- William D. Popkin, Indiana University Maurer School of Law
[Posner’s] persistent assault on the sanctimony and pomposity of federal judicial culture is acutely entertaining, signaling to some of his more arrogant colleagues that they’re not as important or intelligent as they might think…His frank irritability is strangely charming, and charmingly strange. The federal judiciary has lost a maverick but gained a needed detractor. -- Allen Mendenhall * Los Angeles Review of Books *
