The Tenth Justice - Brad Meltzer [0]
Dead Even
The First Counsel
The Millionaires
THE TENTH
JUSTICE
BRAD MELTZER
WARNER BOOKS
An AOL Time Warner eBook
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright © 1997 by Brad Meltzer
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
Warner Books
1271 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
An AOL Time Warner Company
Please visit our web site at www.twbookmark.com
ISBN 0-7595-7025-6
First eBook Edition: February 2003
For Cori,
who changed my life
the moment she entered it
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
eBook Info
In a capital full of classified matters, and full of leaks, the Court keeps private matters private.
Reporters may speculate; but details of discussion are never disclosed, and the vote is revealed only when a decision is announced.
—THE SUPREME COURT HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Equal Justice Under Law
Five votes can do anything around here.
—WILLIAM BRENNAN
Supreme Court Justice
Chapter 1
BEN ADDISON WAS SWEATING. LIKE A PIG.
And it wasn’t supposed to be this way.
In the past three hours, Ben had read the current issues of The Washington Post, The New York Times, Law Week, and Legal Times. Last night, before going to bed, he’d committed to memory every major Supreme Court case from the previous session. He’d also made a list of every Supreme Court opinion Justice Mason Hollis had ever written, and, to be safe, he’d reread Hollis’s biography. No matter what the subject, Ben was convinced he was prepared for any topic Justice Hollis might raise. In his briefcase, he had packed two legal pads, four pens, two pencils, a pocket legal dictionary, a pocket thesaurus, and—since he’d heard that Supreme Court clerks typically work straight through lunch—a turkey sandwich. Without question, Ben Addison was ready.
But he was still sweating. Like a pig.
As he stood outside the Supreme Court, a half hour early for his first day on the job, he was entranced by the gleaming white columns of the nation’s highest court. This is it, he thought, taking a deep breath. It’s finally here. Running his hand through his recently cut brown hair, Ben climbed the wide marble stairs. He counted each step, in case Justice Hollis was curious how many stairs there were. Forty-four, he told himself, filing the information on a mental index card.
Ben dragged open the heavy bronze doors and entered the building. A security guard who sat next to a metal detector said, “Can I help you?”
“I’m Ben Addison. I’m here to clerk.”
The guard found Ben’s name on his clipboard. “Orientation doesn’t start for another half hour.”
“I like to be early,” Ben said with a smile.
“Right.” The guard rolled his eyes. “Go straight down the hall and make your first left. It’s the first door on your right.”
Lined with marble busts of past chief justices, the stark white Great Hall was as impressive as Ben had remembered. A sly smile lifted his cheeks as he passed each sculpture. “Hello, Supreme Court,” he whispered to himself. “Hello, Ben,” he answered.
Ben pulled open the large wooden door, expecting to see an empty room. Instead, he saw eight other law clerks. “Brown-nosers,” he muttered to himself as he sat down in the only empty chair.
As inconspicuously as possible, Ben sized up his new colleagues. He recognized three of the eight clerks. On his far right was a well-dressed man with stylish, tortoiseshell-rimmed glasses who had been the articles editor of the Stanford Law Review. To his left was a tall black