Last Branch Standing
A Potentially Surprising, Occasionally Witty Journey Inside Today's Supreme Court
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Last Branch Standing
Narrated by:
Sarah Isgur
Buy for $19.80
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Narrated by:
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Sarah Isgur
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By:
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Sarah Isgur
"Isgur has all your answers in these smart, snappy, clear-eyed pages.”
—Stacy Schiff, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams
Most people get the Supreme Court all wrong. A smattering of high-profile decisions have popularized a simplistic idea of the Court and its justices. Yes, six of them were appointed by Republicans, and only three by Democrats. So, how does that 6-3 conservative majority explain why in the 2024-25 term, conservative Brett Kavanaugh was more likely to agree with liberal Elena Kagan than conservative Neil Gorsuch? Or why the court threw shade at Florida’s attempt to ban drag shows?
To truly understand the Court, argues Sarah Isgur, you have to look beyond partisan politics—the “X-Axis.” The wisest court watchers apply another measuring stick, the “Y-Axis," where the nine justices span from order-loving institutionalists to true chaos agents. Once you appreciate these overlapping and even competing impulses, the Court begins to look a lot more like a 3-3-3 split than 6-3.
The ultimate insider, Isgur takes readers on a deep dive inside the Supreme Court: how cases land at the Court’s doorstep, which justices attend clerk happy hours (and which ones even bother showing up to the office), why conservatives already have buyer’s remorse about Amy Coney Barrett, and how the whole judicial system is kind of a constitutional anomaly. She’ll even help you decide whether you should throw your hat in the ring and go to law school! Blending irreverent humor and incisive commentary, Isgur goes underneath the robes—and shows us what we need to do to preserve the rule of law amid dicey times in this little self-governing experiment we’ve been running for the last 250 years.
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Critic reviews
“Amusingly myth-busting.”—The Washington Post
“Put aside partisanship, argues Sarah Isgur, in attempting to make sense of the Supreme Court. She offers an alternate framework in this intimate look at the untouchable nine. How do political labels actually translate to a legal context? How might we preserve the Court’s legitimacy? Isgur has all your answers in these smart, snappy, clear-eyed pages.”—Stacy Schiff, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams
“With legal principles challenged almost every day in America, the role of the Court has rarely been so scrutinized, making Last Branch Standing ever the more timely.”—Martha Raddatz, ABC News anchor and chief global affairs correspondent
“Sarah Isgur’s Last Branch Standing is as gripping and informative as her famed podcast, Advisory Opinions. Smart, incisive, nuanced, and funny, this book advocates for the Court—and does so with panache. Isgur succeeds where many others fall short because she illustrates how the Court is not made up of heroes and villains, but real people who do their level best in service of us all.”—Lisa Blatt, Chair, Williams & Connolly’s Supreme Court and Appellate practice; 55-time Supreme Court advocate
“Sarah Isgur does something truly remarkable: she manages to demystify the U.S. Supreme Court while maintaining her reverence for it.”—Jonah Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Dispatch, host of The Remnant podcast, and bestselling author of Suicide of the West
“Occasionally witty, yes. Actually, often witty. More important, often wise. In a word, winning. Before I dove into this volume, I thought I knew rather a lot about the Court and its justices. Now I know a ton more—and so will you if you are wise enough to open this book and start reading.”—Akhil Reed Amar, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science, Yale University, and author of Born Equal
“Last Branch Standing is a strikingly illuminating introduction to the Supreme Court. Sarah Isgur humanizes the Justices, explains their work, and defends the Court’s integrity amid growing skepticism on both left and right. Last Branch Standing is the most accessible and engagingly written guide to the Court now available.”—Jack Goldsmith, Learned Hand Professor of Law, Harvard University
“[Last Branch Standing] makes the bold and convincing argument that the Court and its justices can’t be categorized using the same hyper-partisan talking points that permeate our other government branches . . . Readers looking for clarity on this fundamental institution would be wise to ‘grant cert’ (court parlance for agreeing to hear a case) to an engaged reading of Last Branch Standing.”—Booklist
“Put aside partisanship, argues Sarah Isgur, in attempting to make sense of the Supreme Court. She offers an alternate framework in this intimate look at the untouchable nine. How do political labels actually translate to a legal context? How might we preserve the Court’s legitimacy? Isgur has all your answers in these smart, snappy, clear-eyed pages.”—Stacy Schiff, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams
“With legal principles challenged almost every day in America, the role of the Court has rarely been so scrutinized, making Last Branch Standing ever the more timely.”—Martha Raddatz, ABC News anchor and chief global affairs correspondent
“Sarah Isgur’s Last Branch Standing is as gripping and informative as her famed podcast, Advisory Opinions. Smart, incisive, nuanced, and funny, this book advocates for the Court—and does so with panache. Isgur succeeds where many others fall short because she illustrates how the Court is not made up of heroes and villains, but real people who do their level best in service of us all.”—Lisa Blatt, Chair, Williams & Connolly’s Supreme Court and Appellate practice; 55-time Supreme Court advocate
“Sarah Isgur does something truly remarkable: she manages to demystify the U.S. Supreme Court while maintaining her reverence for it.”—Jonah Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Dispatch, host of The Remnant podcast, and bestselling author of Suicide of the West
“Occasionally witty, yes. Actually, often witty. More important, often wise. In a word, winning. Before I dove into this volume, I thought I knew rather a lot about the Court and its justices. Now I know a ton more—and so will you if you are wise enough to open this book and start reading.”—Akhil Reed Amar, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science, Yale University, and author of Born Equal
“Last Branch Standing is a strikingly illuminating introduction to the Supreme Court. Sarah Isgur humanizes the Justices, explains their work, and defends the Court’s integrity amid growing skepticism on both left and right. Last Branch Standing is the most accessible and engagingly written guide to the Court now available.”—Jack Goldsmith, Learned Hand Professor of Law, Harvard University
“[Last Branch Standing] makes the bold and convincing argument that the Court and its justices can’t be categorized using the same hyper-partisan talking points that permeate our other government branches . . . Readers looking for clarity on this fundamental institution would be wise to ‘grant cert’ (court parlance for agreeing to hear a case) to an engaged reading of Last Branch Standing.”—Booklist
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Best book I’ve read in a long time
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Joyous read
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Read it! Agree or Disagree, you will learn something. it's worth the credit.
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