Washington Lawyer - November/December 2021 - 43

WORTH READING
Greed, Intrigue & an
Incapacitated Justice
Review by Ronald Goldfarb
S
tacey Abrams is well known
for her political work,
including her service in
the Georgia House of
Representatives for 11 years and her
run for governor in 2018. She also
started Fair Fight Action, a voting
rights organization that was critical
in her state's two 2021 runoff elections
for U.S. Senate seats.
Her political expertise comes into play with her
latest accomplishment, the novel While Justice
Sleeps. Previously Abrams published two bestselling
non-fiction books as well as eight
romantic suspense novels under the pen name
Selena Montgomery. But in While Justice Sleeps,
she relies on her knowledge of politics and the
inner workings of the U.S. Supreme Court,
showcasing her skill to write a fast-paced and
engaging thriller. The book is a complicated
one, too, on several convoluted themes, which
at times can confuse a reader but never fails to
lead them to her surprise conclusion.
The story turns on the high-stakes politics
and international intrigue that follows the
matters like racial prejudice. That is particularly
true when passionate advocacy is based on
facts. Her writing may influence the view one
takes of U.S. Supreme Court decision-making
on past and future gun rights cases.
Don Allen Resnikoff is principal at Don Allen
Resnikoff Law, LLC.
NOTES
1 Haines, Errin, " Carol Anderson Sees a Threat to
Black Americans in the Second Amendment's
self-induced
coma of
Supreme
Court Justice
Howard
Wynn at a
time when
the Court is
about to
decide a controversial
case
and the
eccentric
justice's
critical swing
vote is in
abeyance.
He is on life
support but not brain dead, so replacement
is not possible.
His 26-year-old law clerk, Avery Keene, is
chosen as his legal guardian, to her surprise.
Avery is smart (Yale Law School graduate),
streetwise (mother is a drug addict), tough, and
unconventional. She is determined to do the
right thing with her power of attorney to make
decisions on the justice's behalf. Wynn had told
no one of his decision beforehand, not even
Avery or his estranged wife and son. The chief
justice had been given Wynn's instructions
earlier in a sealed letter.
Origins, " 19thnews.org/2021/06/threat-to-blacksin-the-second-amendment-origins.
2
Picadio, Anthony, " The Right to Bear Arms: A
Disfavored Right, " Pennsylvania Bar Association
Quarterly (January 2019).
3 nytimes.com/2021/05/28/books/review/thesecond-carol-anderson.html.
4
Picadio, Anthony, " The Future of the Second
Amendment Under an Originalist Supreme Court
Majority, " Pennsylvania Bar Association Quarterly
(July 2021), transpartisanreview.org/scalia-three.
Ronald Goldfarb, a Washington, D.C., attorney,
author, and literary agent, is of counsel to
Redmon, Peyton & Braswell LLP in Alexandria,
Virginia. His latest book is The Price of Justice:
Money, Morals, and Ethical Reform in the Law.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021
* WASHINGTON LAWYER 43
Not to give away too many plot details, but the
eccentric, curmudgeonly, high-minded justice
had many enemies who wanted him to die or
resign. The powerful forces of U.S. national
security and international commercial investment
in pharmaceuticals come into play, as
does the weaponization of genetic research to
target specific groups of people.
The mystery moves from the Supreme Court to
the White House, Wall Street, and law offices.
The media is released to tell a story they don't
know. The justice's nurse is killed. There is a
kidnapping. All these secret forces are set
against the justice's survival to cast his decisive
vote. Undercover enemies attack, bribe, and
harass Avery. Funds are discovered in offshore
financial accounts. The justice had a cabin in
Georgia, where Avery and the justice's son find
a message for Avery.
The action shifts from the United States to India
and China and involves the machinations of
pharmaceutical competition for the lucrative
cure to a disease that the justice and his son
have, and for which commercial interests are
competing for control. The case before the
Court becomes consequential for reasons few
know about.
As clues, the justice left his young clerk a reference
to Voltaire and mysterious messages with
puzzling instructions containing esoteric chess
strategies (the Lasker-Bauer moves from 1889)
as leads to his intentions. " Look to the East for
answers. Look to the river . . . Tell Avery . . . Look
in the squares. Forgive me. "
Avery and her small band of friends - her
medical school roommate, a young lawyer, the
justice's son with whom she develops a bond
- take on hidden and dangerous competitors.
She is determined to find answers: " I'm not
going to give up . . . He left me clues that will
lead me to the truth. There's a line that
connects it all . . . . "
If all this is not enough, the ending suggests
that a sequel may follow. Fans of While Justice
Sleeps will look forward to it.
Doubleday
http://www.19thnews.org/2021/06/threat-to-blacks-in-the-second-amendment-origins http://www.19thnews.org/2021/06/threat-to-blacks-in-the-second-amendment-origins http://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/books/review/the-second-carol-anderson.html http://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/books/review/the-second-carol-anderson.html http://www.transpartisanreview.org/scalia-three
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