John Knox (3)

3987. The Forgotten Memoir of John Knox: A Year in the Life of a Supreme Court Clerk in FDR's Washington, Edited and with a Foreword and Afterword by Dennis J. Hutchinson and David J. Garrow (read 15 Feb 2005) This is a most unusual book which was fascinating to read and which I enjoyed very very much. It is a memoir by the law clerk to Justice McReynolds for the year 1936-1937--a momentous year in Supreme Court history, when the Court, over McReynolds' venomous objection, upheld New Deal show more measures and thus defeated FDR's plan to add Supreme Court justices. Knox was a law school graduate but all he did was clerical work, having no role in composition of the substance of opinions McReynolds wrote. This book has so many insights into Supreme Court history that it was sheerly fascinating and Knox was a most interesting character in his own right, while McReynolds comes across as subhuman. show less