Justice on the Brink: A Requiem for the Supreme Court

The gripping and alarming story of the year that transformed the Supreme Court and set the stage for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, with a new preface on the far-right decisions of 2022—from the Pulitzer Prize–winning law columnist for The New York Times

“This landmark book gives us an invaluable perspective on the Supreme Court in democracy’s hour of maximum danger.”
—Jon Meacham

"A dazzling feat...meaty, often scintillating and sometimes scary…Greenhouse is a virtuoso of SCOTUS analysis." —Washington Post

In Justice on the Brink, legendary journalist Linda Greenhouse, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her Supreme Court coverage, gives us unique insight into a court under stress, providing the context and brilliant analysis readers of her work in The New York Times have come to expect. In a page-turning narrative, she recounts the twelve months when the court turned its back on its legacy and traditions, abandoning any effort to stay above and separate from politics. With remarkable clarity and deep institutional knowledge, Greenhouse shows the seeds being planted for the court’s eventual overturning of Roe v. Wade, expansion of access to guns, and unprecedented elevation of religious rights in American society. Both a chronicle and a requiem, Justice on the Brink depicts the struggle for the soul of the Supreme Court, and points to the future awaiting all of us.