5149. Salt of the Earth, Conscience of the Court The Story of Justice Wiley Rutledge, by John M. Ferren (read 13 Apr 2014) This is a carefully researched and cogently argued biography of Wiley Rutledge, who was born near Cloverport, Kentucky, and after time as a teacher and as dean of the Iowa Law School and as judge on the Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit in 1943 was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. There are copious footnotes, though they are not as fact-filled as one would hope they would be. But the discussion of the cases Rutledge dealt with, both on the Court of Appeals and on the Supreme Court, are discussed learnedly and with the expertise that we expect from the author, who served on the D.C. Court of Appeals. I found utterly fascinating the account of the years (1943-1949) that Rutledge was on the Supreme Court. The author did extensive interviewing of people who knew Rutledge, even interviewing lawyers who were at the Iowa law school when Rutledge was Dean there. This is a stellar judicial biography of a great Justice. ( )