About:
Last Branch Standing: A Potentially Surprising, Occasionally Witty Journey Inside Today’s Supreme Court by Sara Isgur attempts to explain the United States Supreme Court in an accessible, humanizing manner. Mrs. Isgur is the editor of SCOTUSblog, co-host of the Advisory Opinions podcast, and a familiar face as a TV pundit.
- 416 pages
- Publisher : Crown
- Language : English
- ISBN-10 : 0593800923
My rating for Last Branch Standing – 5
Buy Last Branch Standing from Amazon.com*
More books by Sara Isgur*
Thoughts:
The book is fantastic for everyone who had had enough with the flaming rhetoric that floods every SCOTUS decision, masking the actual decision, or someone who wants to understand the process better. Which in all honesty, should be every American.
In Last Branch Standing, Sara Isgur introduces the concept of the X-axis, the justices’ partisan philosophy, and the Y-axis, the justices’ position on institutionalism. Mrs. Isgur argues (as every lawyer does) that while we mostly focuses on the X-Axis, the Y-Axis cannot be ignored in understanding the court’s decisions and alliances. She goes on to explain how the court actually functions in a 3-3-3 arrangement as oppose to a partisan split as we have been led to believe.
The book does a lot more than simply explains how SCOTUS works, it dives into the clerk culture, an important piece, how and why they select cases, as well as its function as an outlier to the other two branches of the government. Each section is fascinating, well written with a dose of humor, and full with interesting and amusing footnotes for us trivia lovers.
Buy Last Branch Standing from Amazon.com*
More books by Sara Isgur*
Zohar — Man of la Book
Disclaimer: I got this book for free
*Amazon links point to an affiliate account, the money is usually spent on books
