1827 Super Chief: Earl Warren and his Supreme Court A Judicial Biography, by Bernard Schwartz (read 19 Feb 1984) This 1983 biography is not as good as I'd hoped but it was sheer enjoyment reading. It starts with Earl Warren becoming Chief Justice in 1953 and ends with his death on July 9, 1974. Schwarz just goes through the years on the Court, year by year, and discusses the cases. He had access to various Justices' papers, and tells a lot of the maneuvering preceding the handing down of decisions. Certainly the two main decisions of the Warren Court--Brown v. Board of Education and Baker v. Carr (and its progeny)--are decisions which were good for the country and which I wholeheartedly agreed with. Others were not as agreeable to me, e.g., Miranda. I really don't believe Warren was a great lawyer, but he did have ability as a leader. Schwartz says Charlie Whitaker was the poorest Justice that served on the Warren Court, and he was in over his head and this bothered him so his health gave way. Schwartz also says Thurgood Marshall was the next least able, and this is no doubt so, too. Very interesting reading. [Caveat, these views were mine in 1984, and not necessarily are they mine in 2008: I now think Miranda was a good decision, and my attitude toward Marshall is more nuanced, now.] ( )