Illinois Justice: The Scandal of 1969 and the Rise of John Paul Stevens

by Kenneth A. Manaster

Book Overview

Illinois political scandals reached new depths in the 1960s and '70s. In Illinois Justice, Kenneth Manaster takes us behind the scenes of one of the most spectacular. The so-called Scandal of 1969 not only ended an Illinois Supreme Court justice's aspirations to the US Supreme Court, but also marked the beginning of little-known lawyer John Paul Stevens's rise to the high court.

In 1969, citizen gadfly Sherman Skolnick accused two Illinois Supreme Court justices of accepting valuable bank stock from an influential Chicago lawyer in exchange for deciding an important case in the lawyer's favor. The resulting feverish media coverage prompted the state supreme court to appoint a special commission to investigate. Within six weeks and on a shoestring budget, the commission mobilized a small volunteer staff to reveal the facts. Stevens, then a relatively unknown Chicago lawyer, served as chief counsel. His work on this investigation would launch him into the public spotlight and onto the bench.

Manaster, who served on the commission, tells the real story of the investigation, detailing the dead ends, tactics, and triumphs. Manaster expertly traces Stevens's masterful courtroom strategies and vividly portrays the high-profile personalities involved, as well as the subtleties of judicial corruption. A reflective foreword by Justice Stevens himself looks back at the case and how it influenced his career.

Now the subject of the documentary Unexpected Justice: The Rise of John Paul Stevens, this fascinating chapter of political history offers a revealing portrait of the early career of a Supreme Court justice.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 022635010X
• ISBN13: 9780226350103
• Release Date: September 2015
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.11 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

When Independent Counsel Had Integrity

Manaster's book is a extraordinary exploration into the original intent of the independent counsel's function without the political agendas that have come to contaminate its usefulness in recent years. In careful detail, Manaster decribes how Stephens tailored the proceedings to investigate and answer questions related to one incident and one incident only. By avoiding an open ended fishing expedition, justice worked with economy and integrity to bring down a corrupt judiciary. Manaster's careful attention to detail is a textbook study on how to investigate and conduct an inquiry of this nature and importance. It's telling how Kenneth Starr's name is never mentioned in Manaster's book nor are any contemporary incidents yet a previous reviewer has read some bias into Manaster's book. Far from the truth. This is as truthful and straightforward a presentation as you can get. The cast of characters is worthy of a movie, from powerful liable attorney's nervous about taking on powerful politicians to an alienated gadfly devoted to seeing justice done. It's an extraordinary period piece as we witness the Chicago Democratic Convention violance simultaneously with the rise of one of the great judicial thinkers of our time. This a must read for anyone involved in proceedings of this weight and general readers who have lost hope in the judicial system's ability to find the truth. This book proves it can be done.