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The “Good Old #3 Club” Gets a New Member
Author(s) -
WARD ARTEMUS
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of supreme court history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1540-5818
pISSN - 1059-4329
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-5818.2008.00181.x
Subject(s) - publicity , club , supreme court , economic justice , law , political science , join (topology) , sociology , law and economics , medicine , anatomy , mathematics , combinatorics
It has been said that serving on the U.S. Supreme Court is like being a member of an exclusive club. Yet within this club, there are even more exclusive clubs that only a small number of Justices are permitted to join. These shadowy associations are unseen by the public, receive no publicity, and are not even known to the Justices who are excluded. The existence of these secretive organizations has recently been revealed through the release of Justice Harry Blackmun's papers at the Library of Congress. This article is the first serious attempt to research the existence, membership, and practices of these clandestine alliances. Ultimately, as with many High Court practices, these newly uncovered connections may be in need of reform, and I offer a number of solutions to define membership criteria and improve their functioning.