November 18, 2021

Linda Greenhouse

Harvard Book Store's virtual event series welcomes Pulitzer Prize–winning Supreme Court reporter LINDA GREENHOUSE for a discussion of her latest book, Justice on the Brink: The Death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Rise of Amy Coney Barrett, and Twelve Months That Transformed the Supreme Court. She will be joined in conversation by acclaimed correspondent EVAN THOMAS, the New York Times bestselling author of John Paul Jones, Sea of Thunder, and Being Nixon.

Details

At the end of the Supreme Court’s 2019–20 term, the center was holding. The predictions that the court would move irrevocably to the far right hadn’t come to pass, as the justices released surprisingly moderate opinions in cases involving abortion rights, LGBTQ rights, and how local governments could respond to the pandemic, all shepherded by Chief Justice John Roberts. By the end of the 2020–21 term, much about the nation’s highest court has changed. The right-wing supermajority had completed its first term on the bench, cementing Donald Trump’s legacy on American jurisprudence.

This is the story of that term. From the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the rise of Amy Coney Barrett, from the pandemic to the election, from the Trump campaign’s legal challenges to the ongoing debate about the role of religion in American life, the Supreme Court has been at the center of many of the biggest events of the year. Throughout Justice on the Brink, legendary journalist Linda Greenhouse, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her Supreme Court coverage, gives us unique insight into a court under stress, providing the context and brilliant analysis readers of her work in the New York Times have come to expect.

Ultimately, Greenhouse asks a fundamental question relevant to all Americans: Is this still John Roberts’s Supreme Court, or does it now belong to Donald Trump?

About Author(s)

Linda Greenhouse has reported on and written about the Supreme Court for the New York Times for more than four decades, earning numerous accolades including a Pulitzer Prize. She currently writes a biweekly column on the Court and teaches at Yale Law School. She lives in New Haven, CT, and Stockbridge, MA.

Evan Thomas is the author of ten books, including the New York Times bestselling John Paul JonesSea of Thunder, and Being Nixon. Thomas was a writer, correspondent, and editor for thirty-three years at Time and Newsweek, including ten years as Washington bureau chief at Newsweek, where, at the time of his retirement in 2010, he was editor at large. He appears on many TV and radio talk shows, including Meet the Press and Morning Joe. Thomas has taught writing and journalism at Harvard and Princeton, where, from 2007-14, he was Ferris Professor of Journalism.