- This remarkable new book will be in stores on August
1st and features a picture of Sherman and US Supreme Court Justice John
Paul Stevens on the cover.
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- Illinois Justice: The Scandal of 1969 and the
Rise of John Paul Stevens
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- By Kenneth A. Manaster
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- With a Foreword by Justice Stevens 344 pages The Univesity
of Chicago Press http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/14280.ctl
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- Illinois political scandals reached new depths in the
1960s and '70s. In Illinois Justice, Ken Manaster takes us behind the scenes
of one of the most spectacular. The so-called Scandal of 1969 not only
spelled the end of an Illinois Supreme Court justice's aspirations to the
U.S. Supreme Court, but also marked the beginning of little-known lawyer
John Paul Stevens's rise to the high court.
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- In 1969, citizen gadfly Sherman Skolnick accused the
chief justice and another Illinois Supreme Court justice of accepting valuable
bank stock from an influential Chicago lawyer in exchange for deciding
an important case in the lawyer's favor. The feverish media coverage that
resulted-a scandalous story in its own right, as Manaster reveals-prompted
the state supreme court to appoint a special commission to investigate.
Within six weeks and on a shoestring budget, the commission gathered a
small volunteer staff and revealed the true facts. Stevens, then a relatively
unknown Chicago lawyer, served as chief counsel. His work on this investigation
would launch him into the public spotlight and onto the bench.
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- Manaster, who served on the commission, tells the real
story of the investigation, detailing the dead ends, tactics, and triumphs.
At the heart of the book is the tense courtroom drama that unfolded in
July 1969. Manaster expertly traces Stevens's masterful courtroom strategies,
and vividly portrays the high-profile personalities involved (almost every
member of the Illinois Supreme Court took the stand), as well as the subtleties
of judicial corruption. With a reflective foreword by Justice Stevens himself,
Manaster's book is both a fascinating chapter of political history and
a revealing portrait of the early career of a Supreme Court justice.
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- You may purchase this title at these fine bookstores:
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/bookstores.html
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- Outside the USA, consult our international information
page. http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/intlsale.html
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- The University of Chicago Press - www.press.uchicago.edu
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