During the course of American history, wrongful events have occurred and certain Americans have stood up and spoken out against these wrongs: Tom Paine, Edward R. Murrow, Daniel Ellsberg. Vincent Bugliosi takes his place in this special pantheon of patriots with his powerful, brilliant, and courageous expose of crime by the highest court in the land. When an article he wrote on this topic appeared in The Nation magazine in February 2001, it drew the largest outpouring of letters and e-mail in the magazine's 136-year history, tapping a deep reservoir of outrage. The original article is now expanded, amended, and backed by amplifications, endnotes, and the relevant Supreme Court documents.
Judging the Supreme Court Decision ^ This book developed from a magazine article ('Preface'). Molly Ivins says recounts by hand happen in every election in Texas with punched cards. Gerry Spence says the law is like a religion where judges are the most powerful. Lawyers can be punished for attacking the judiciary. Bugliosi has exposed the Supreme Court as acting for political reasons ('Foreword'). [That has been going on since Marbury vs. Madison created a judicial veto.] The 'Introduction' claims that some voters erroneously voted for Pat Buchanan instead of Al Gore (p.15). Could the reverse have also happened? Did five Supreme Court Justices steal the election for George W. Bush? No, Al Gore lost the election because he lost his home state of Tennessee. If he won Tennessee he would've been President. The conflict over the votes from Republican Florida was the only way for Gore to win a victory from his electoral defeat.
Bugliosi criticizes the Corporate Media for assuming a "black cotton robe" elevates a politician and lawyer to a position of honor and respect (p.24). Judges are either politically connected or have a rich patron who can buy their position; examples are on pages 24 to 27. [Bugliosi will never be appointed a judge for telling these facts!] As for erasing votes (p.28) just wait until he hears about the "Amar Plan"! The Electoral College was created to decide elections by states and not by votes alone, which would give undue weight to the largest states in a Federal system. If people don't understand the Electoral College that shows what a poor job the educational system is doing. The winner of a state gets all the electoral votes, even if it goes into the House of Representatives as in 1824. Most countries use a paper ballot for counting votes. It is faster for voters and cheaper to run (no expensive machines to be maintained). Machines are overly complicated for voters who have little experience with them.
Bugliosi admits the vast majority of Americans doubt that Oswald acted alone (p.32) even if few read the Warren Report. I'll bet most people who read the Summary Report doubt its conclusions. The House Select Committee on Assassinations disproved the Warren Report in 1979. Bugliosi says that if a person takes the property of another under a mistaken belief that he owns it then he is not guilty of a crime (p.38). OJ Simpson said that too.
The Federalist Party created the Supreme Court as a power to overrule Congress in order to benefit the wealthy and crooked (the Yazoo Land Fraud). It concocted powers for a corporation that makes it above state laws. This continues to this day (p.42). The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was interpreted as a weapon against labor unions instead of corporations! The number of the Supreme Court hasn't changed since Andrew Jackson was President of 24 states and 30 million people. There is still no age limit or term of office, they are not elected by popular vote. So I am not shocked by their fixing the 2000 election by banning a partial recount due to the equal protection clause (p.43). The Supreme Court always chooses the policies desired by the wealthy. Why else would they allow the 1968 Gun Control Act to overturn the Second Amendment? The attacks on the Second Amendment date back to 1877 Pittsburgh. Any good history book will explain that. Full disclosure: I voted for Gore rather than Bush. His presidency was a disaster for all Americans but a huge success for wealthy aristocrats. Would Gore have been much different? Why?
Never Knew Before ^ Bugliose, Vincent is a very repatable author. This book is backed up by facts supplies. I agree with him. Something has to be done
A cause for civil disobedience ^ What happened in 2000 was, in my humble opinion, a cause for civil disobedience on a national scale. Riots, demonstrations, surrounding buildings and keeping the occupants inside until they came to their senses, even more. Had we the bravery that, say, Lithuanians had in 1990, or that lone figure in Tienanmen Square showed so long ago, we might have spared ourselves the ignominy and disgrace of this petulant, recalcitrant, intellectually underemployed, ignorant, bigoted, mendacious, simple-minded moron (who, I might add, half the country identified with - says something). Don't know if we're either capable or willing to recover from the past 7 years of utter cynical evil. Perhaps now would be a good time for an extraterrestrial takeover. (I'm kidding, folks. About the ET, that is, not about the person referenced above.) Maybe we can convince the ETs to take the 5 "conservative" "justices" with them? Especially Scalia and Thomas? The ETs can put them in some kind of display case and label them "mentally underdeveloped semi-humans" or something like that? I can't help thinking that whenever someone identifies themselves as a republican that I feel there's a severe personal deficiency about them, like retardation, or autism.
Educational ^ This book packs a lot of information into very few pages. Bugliosi does a good job of supporting his suppositions with law. There are so many points made, most everyone will be unaware of some of them. The biggest drawback for me was that sometimes Bugliosi strays into name-calling which leads one to begin to doubt if some of the scholarship isn't slanted more than is obvious at first blush.
A case Excellently Presented ^ Bugliosi is one of a kind! He makes his points clearly and effectively. I wish he could take all these so called "justices" to court where he would run circles around them with his startlingly clear reasoning and thinking, ending with them all being dragged off to the nearest prison for treason. A great book to get the juices of freedom flowing again from a great man who truly cares about justice.
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