Review by: Samantha M. Chandler
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Quick Summary:
Ben Addison (main character) lands a job as a Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) clerk for a Justice Hollis. He is super intelligent and a golden boy for sure. Ben has a really witty and beautiful co-clerk named Lisa Schulman. He also has three roommates that he has been best friends with since they were very young. Eric the ever so practical news writer, Nathan the resourceful and dedicated secretary of state employee, and Ober the joker of the bunch, working for Senator Stevens. Ben accidentally shares the flipping outcome of a SCOTUS case to “The Listener” (they have a name, I just don’t want to ruin the surprise). That listener happens to turn a pretty profit off of the decision and blackmails Ben for more cases. What the hell is he going to do? He can’t go tell the authorities without implicating himself and losing his job and Barr license. He can’t tell Justice Hollis without breaking the ethic’s code of the SCOTUS. He can only rely on his roommates and Lisa… or can he? The Listener continues to be five steps ahead of Ben at all times. How does The Listener get this information? Is Ben being bugged? Was it one of his roomies? Is it Lisa? Who can he trust? Read the book to find out!
Okay, so The Tenth Justice is a fantastic read! The genre is fiction, SCOTUS historical, and legal. The three things that I think made this book so special were the information and history of the SCOTUS (yes my former history teacher is showing), the character development, and the thrill of the read which makes me want to continue reading all of the books by Brad Meltzer!
I would highly recommend this book. It’s a 10/10 for me because it was a simple quick read, it had a hold on me, and I will definitely reread this book in the future. It also made me want to do more research on the SCOTUS. It’s one of those books that I would forget the fine details of what happened if I didn’t read it for a few years, making it an interesting story to reread.
Also, I found this book to be a bit of a flashback to my past. I mean the characters use phone booths (gasp, cell phones are not commonplace!), restaurant phones, and The Listener’s top tech gear (which isn’t super high tech by today’s standards). The other thing… Google is not around! Imagine a world without knowledge at my fingertips. Oh yea, that’s called a book or asking someone who knows about the topic! There is also a part when Lisa and Ben had to go to a drug store to find a blood pressure machine (reminds me of going to Kmart as a kid, I always had to check my pressure). AND people have house phones with wires (my mom still does for emergencies) and they use cassette tapes for recording (oh those were the days). Ahhhhh I bet when this book was written Brad was like yup this is everyday life, and reading it today brought back some memories of using/having/or not having these things in my life! Thanks for the memory trip Brad!
History of SCOTUS:
This part is what I absolutely adored. It was a behind the scenes look at the SCOTUS. In middle and high school, I was taught checks and balances, the role of the Supreme Court, and the very basics on how it operates. Basically, what I taught to 8th graders. But this book dives in deeper as I hope high school history/civics classes today do. Some things not talked about in my class are the fact that each of the justices’ have clerks and a secretary. There are also excerpts that detail how the justices interact with their clerks, with other justices, and with the public. The fact that the justices try to convince other justices in order to get votes on a case (sometimes by even inviting them over for a fancy dinner) kind of makes me see some troubles within the court. It also makes sense that some justices wouldn’t be interested in certain cases regarding certain laws or amendment rights. So, I am going to spread some knowledge that I valued, that I think the general public needs to know, and readers may appreciate knowing before reading the book.
The clerks (in this case Ben and Lisa) receive about 130 FRACKING petitions a week where they have to review the decisions of the lower courts. That is a whole bunch of reading and researching! There are many different reasons that some petitions might go into various piles. 1) The justice they work for would be interested in hearing the case, 2) The justice wouldn’t be interested in the case due to his/her beliefs or laws/amendments they don’t want to touch, and 3) A pile for maybe, where they would need to discuss things before deciding on it. These are not all of the piles, only some of them. One of my favorite quotes from this book is: As Reed Hughes (someone from the higher-ups of the Clerk’s Office said on page 5),
“This is an important job- probably more important than any job you’ll ever have. For over two hundred years, the Supreme Court has steered our country through its greatest controversies. Congress may pass the laws, and the president may sign the laws, but it’s the Supreme Court that decides the law. And starting today, that power is yours. Alongside the justices, you will draft decisions that change lives. Your input will constantly be sought, and your ideas will certainly be implemented. In many instances, the justices will rely entirely on your analysis. They’ll base their opinions on your research. That means you affect what they see and what they know. There are nine justices on this Court. But your influence, the power that you hold, makes you the tenth justice.”
When the SCOTUS is in session, a Marshal announces at exactly 10 a.m. the arrival of the justices. This is stated in the book (I believe twice) for when the Court is in session to make announcements on the decisions of the Court. The clerks and friends and family of the court have a reserved section just for them. The Marshal bangs the gavel, everyone stands up, the robed Justices walk out from behind the curtain like the badasses they are, they take their seat, and then the Marshal says,
“The Honorable, the Chief Justice and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! All persons having business before the Honorable, the Supreme Court of the United States, are admonished to draw near and give their attention, for the Court is now sitting. God save the United States, and this Honorable Court.” Then the people take a seat.
On Monday mornings they announce the release of an Order List which includes accepting and rejecting cases. Opinions of the court are released on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings with all justices present, but each case is read by various justices. Sometimes a justice reads one opinion or more, sometimes a justice doesn’t read any at all, sometimes they are split between justices.
Also, in this book, you get to see some of the workings of the executive branch. So, you know Ben leaks information to the wrong guy? Well, let’s just say the Marshals are not happy about that and want to find out who the hell leaked that information. However, it somehow makes it into the newspaper that that decision may have been leaked beforehand which made some gamblers (The Listener) rich because people invested large amounts of money in that business based on that decision… a huge risk especially if the decision went another way. The U.S. Marshals become involved in trying to figure out who in the SCOTUS leaked information. Eventually, the head of the U.S. Marshals becomes involved.
Character Development:
As a Dungeon’s and Dragon’s player, I love developing a character. I could kind of care less for the story and I want to see my character gain new skills and abilities as well as help them grow as a character. I really love Brad’s ability to build complicated relationships between characters. Once again, I found a Shakespearean theme to it. Shakespeare has four different types of characters. The comics, heroes, villains, and lovers. Starting with the comics are Ober and Lisa. These two were hella hilarious most of the time and were always at each other’s throats (sort of in a sibling way). Ober has the best puns, jokes, and stories while Lisa is able to fire back witty, intelligent, and insulting jokes to any oncoming person she felt was deserving. For the hero category, you have Lisa, Nathan, Ben, and Eric. I am not going to explain why because it will give too much information away. The villain is definitely the shitty guy known as The Listener. Again, not giving too much information away. And the final category of lovers (ew), Ben and Lisa. All of these relationships are so complicated and so lifelike. I really believe that Brad caught the essence of friendship, companionship, and the complicated ways of each individual human. Especially a human under distress. It was very fascinating to watch Ben’s relationships during this read and how they change like the wind with the new information he continues to gain.
The Thrill of the Read:
This book is a must-read for anyone that likes thrillers, court cases, mysteries, and character development. (I feel like Stephan from SNL). This is for all of you problem-solvers out there, or for the people that love books like Sherlock Holmes. Also, this book is for anyone that tends to say just one more chapter but ends up reading 12 more. Most of the chapters end on a cliffhanger and make you want to read more, and more, and more. It is interesting in the fact that Ben and The Listener are basically playing chess with each other’s lives and are trying to be 5 steps ahead of each other. A true classic hero/villain story of who will win: the good guy who was tricked, or the bad guy who used the good guy like a soiled washcloth? Also, the whole time along the journey you are trying to figure out who the Sam hell is helping The Listener. Is it one of his friends? Lisa? Is he bugged? Every chapter you are given more clues to try and figure it out and trust me your answer changes with every chapter. As much as it is frustrating, it’s also really nice to use the clues and guess who the culprit may be or the way that The Listener is getting all of the scoop on Ben.
This book was one to just sit back, drink my water, and binge read with the dog near me. This story was so engrossing that I just could not put the book down. I needed one of these “sit back and keep flipping the pages because you are too invested” types of books because Moby Dick and African Samurai needing more analyzing in my opinion. I hope that if I were in Ben’s situation I would be as smart as him and Lisa, as funny as Ober, as successful of a writer as Eric, and as resourceful as Nathan.
IN CONCLUSION, READ THE FRACKING BOOK!
Up Next: The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness
