The rule of five : making climate history at the Supreme Court /

"When in 2007 the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Massachusetts v. EPA it was immediately hailed a landmark. Despite the Court's preponderance of conservative Justices and the years-long effort by the George W. Bush Administration, led by Vice President Dick Cheney, to derail the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lazarus, Richard J. (Author)
Published: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press,
Publisher Address: Cambridge, Massachusetts :
Publication Dates: 2020.
Literature type: Book
Language: English
Subjects:
Summary: "When in 2007 the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Massachusetts v. EPA it was immediately hailed a landmark. Despite the Court's preponderance of conservative Justices and the years-long effort by the George W. Bush Administration, led by Vice President Dick Cheney, to derail the case, five Justices concluded the Environmental Protection Agency could regulate greenhouse gas emissions. By the narrowest of margins, 5-4, the Justices had sided with Massachusetts, making possible a panoply of new environmental laws and resulting in America's signing, eight years later, the Paris Climate Accord. Until now, only insiders knew the extent to which infighting, accidents, luck, superb lawyering, and the opaque practices of the Supreme Court collided to produce a legal miracle. The Rule of Five recounts the inspiring story behind this triumph of Supreme Court advocacy. It takes us behind the scenes to reveal how Jim Milkey, chief of the environmental protection division of the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, led a warring collection of lawyers to a historic ruling. Richard Lazarus, the renowned Supreme Court advocate who has given oral argument before the Court fourteen times, provides a gripping account of what was happening behind closed doors and in the corridors of power, from the filing of the petition to the Supreme Court's final decision. Lazarus brings to life the heated debates and personal conflicts that occurred within the competing groups of petitioners, cabinet officials, lawyers, judges, and Supreme Court Justices, even as he explains the inner workings of the Court and the case's larger legacy"--
Carrier Form: viii, 358 pages ; 22 cm
Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 9780674238121 (hardcover) :
0674238125 (hardcover)
Index Number: KF8748
CLC: D971.226
Call Number: D971.226/L431-1
Contents: Joe -- Rocking the boat -- A turd -- An agency misstep -- The carbon dioxide warriors -- Weakness in numbers -- Three judges -- Completely confused -- A clarion dissent -- Hail Mary pass -- "Holy #@$#!" -- The lure of the lectern -- Moots -- Seventy-four inches -- A hot bench -- Red lights -- The conference -- A bow-tied Jedi master -- Two boxes -- Making history.