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Supreme Courtship

Christopher Buckley
Hachette Book Group (2008)
ISBN 9780446579827
Reviewed by Narayan Radhakrishnan for RebeccasReads (9/08)

These days, every third lawyer is writing a legal thriller. They are the “in-thing” in popular fiction writing, in television (the award winning Damages being the most recent example), in movies (the Oscar winning Michael Clayton, for instance) and on stage.  The passion people have for legally themed stories, and how law is being perceived and bought out in popular culture, is now a recognized study in academic circles titled Law and Popular Culture.

The O.J. Simpson trial, the Michael Jackson trial gave a new concept to the ambit of trial by media. The man on street has a concept of what the judiciary is and what ought to be law. Lawyers are either portrayed as the scum of the universe or, as Charles Martin Simon puts it, “the ultra-chase, soulful-but-white, attorney/sleuth hero brought into the case backwards, fighting it all the way, against his better judgment, wishes, and all he stands for, against-all-odds, bad-guys-lose, good-guys-win type of thing.”

It is in this light that “Supreme Courtship,” by doyen novelist and satirist Christopher Buckley, must be perceived and appreciated.  And Buckley has just one formula: nothing is so revered not to be poked fun at. The ubiquitous legal jargon, the veneration one gives to the Judiciary as an institution, the bloated egos of certain judges, the clash of right versus wrong vis-à-vis law versus justice; all is bought out in a humorous vein by the author. 

President Donald Vanderdamp has a clash with the United States Senate. His recommendation and nominee for the post of a Supreme Court Judge has just been struck down. In a move that might click or backfire, the President announces a radical appointment to the post: Judge Pepper Cartwright, the most popular face of America, the judge of a reality show by the name Courtroom Six (Is Buckley spoofing Judge Judy or am I reading to much into it, you please decide). As a media celebrity Cartwright is a winner hands down. But can she carry her charm and wisdom to the Nation’s Apex Court, or will she fail the real test? And soon Cartwright finds herself in the midst of a big mess. How she proves herself, how she gets along with her colleagues and deciphers the nuances of law and justice forms the plot of the novel.

However, it’s not the plot or story that is important; the story is just a vehicle the author uses to spoof and satire the institution (Judiciary). I believe this novel will be more appreciated by an American audience rather than a foreign one, the prime reason being that one has to be totally acquainted with the politics and present judicial system in United States.  But as a humorous prose of the first order, Buckley clicks.
           
I enjoyed it and I must say it’s the perfect ode to legal fiction, the perfect ode to law and popular culture.

     

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