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| Supreme Courtship | 
 enlarge | Author: Christopher Buckley
Publisher: Twelve
Category: Book
List Price: $24.99
Buy New: $10.00
You Save: $14.99 (60%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  30 reviews
Sales Rank: 1359
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 285
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9 x 5.5 x 1.3
ISBN: 0446579823
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780446579827
ASIN: 0446579823
Publication Date: September 3, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
In bestselling author Christopher Buckley's hilarious novel, the President of the United States, ticked off at the Senate for rejecting his nominees, decides to get even by nominating America's most popular TV judge to the Supreme Court. President Donald Vanderdamp is having a hell of a time getting his nominees onto the Supreme Court. After one nominee is rejected for insufficiently appreciating To Kill a Mockingbird, the president chooses someone so beloved by voters that the Senate won't have the nerve to reject her--Judge Pepper Cartwright, star of the nation's most popular reality show. Will Pepper, a vivacious Texan, survive a Senate confirmation battle? Will becoming one of the most powerful women in the world ruin her love life? Soon, Pepper finds herself in the middle of a constitutional crisis, a presidential reelection campaign that the president is determined to lose, and oral arguments of a romantic nature. Supreme Courtship is another classic Christopher Buckley comedy about the Washington institutions most deserving of ridicule.
Amazon.com Exclusive
An Essay from Christopher Buckley  Somewhere in this brilliant, hilarious, impossible-to-put-down--to say nothing of moderately priced--new book of mine, the narrator notes that appointing a Supreme Court justice is pretty much the most consequential thing a president can do, short of declaring nuclear war; more to the point, that this fact is generally pointed out every four years by whoever is running second in the presidential election. The Supreme Court is by any definition the most important branch of government. Who else has the power to say--without fear of being contradicted by someone higher up the food chain--"Congratulations, you just won the presidential election, even though the other guy got more votes!" Or, "We really feel awful about this, but you have to be lethally injected tonight at midnight."? If you're on the Supreme Court, you are the top of the food chain. I've written satires about other Washington institutions. It never occurred to me to try one about the Supreme Court, for the reason that I never found it particularly funny. It was my editor, Jonathan Karp, who suggested it, and if the book turns out to be a stinkeroo and bombs, I am going to petition the Court to have him lethally injected. At some point, while scratching my noggin and trying to come up with some way into a satire about the Marble Palace, I scribbled on a legal pad (how appropriate is that?): Judge Judy on the Court. I called Karp and ran it past him. He laughed, which I always take as a good sign, since he doesn't laugh at 99 out of 100 of my genius ideas. My Judge Judy is a sexy Texan named Pepper Cartwright. She was an actual judge before she became a TV hottie. How, you ask, did she get on the Court in the first place? Well, it all starts on page one where--did I mention how moderately priced the book is? --Christopher Buckley
Product Description
President of the United States Donald Vanderdamp is having a hell of a time getting his nominees appointed to the Supreme Court. After one nominee is rejected for insufficiently appreciating To Kill A Mockingbird, the president chooses someone so beloved by voters that the Senate won't have the guts to reject her -- Judge Pepper Cartwright, the star of the nation's most popular reality show, Courtroom Six.
Will Pepper, a straight-talking Texan, survive a confirmation battle in the Senate? Will becoming one of the most powerful women in the world ruin her love life? And even if she can make it to the Supreme Court, how will she get along with her eight highly skeptical colleagues, including a floundering Chief Justice who, after legalizing gay marriage, learns that his wife has left him for another woman.
Soon, Pepper finds herself in the middle of a constitutional crisis, a presidential reelection campaign that the president is determined to lose, and oral arguments of a romantic nature. Supreme Courtship is another classic Christopher Buckley comedy about the Washington institutions most deserving of ridicule. (2008)
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| Customer Reviews: Read 25 more reviews...
Send in the Nimitz! August 21, 2008
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
There are some authors who--even when they're not at their best--are so much better than almost anyone or anything else. Christopher Buckley is just such an author.
I don't think that Supreme Courtship is his strongest work. The satire isn't quite as clever and cutting as some of what he's done in the past. I'd call it "Buckley light." That said, you'd have to be made of stone not to get a giggle from this book. It's just silly and fun.
In the novel, the US is governed by a wildly unpopular president. (I'm not even going to say anything here.) Not only is he unpopular with the people, he's even more unpopular with his own congress. (He vetoes all of their pork barrel projects.) As revenge, the senate subcommittee eviscerates every Supreme Court nominee he sends their way, no matter how honorable and qualified. It's painful to watch. At his wits end, in an attempt to nominate an untouchable, he nominates Pepper Cartwright, America's favorite television judge. Hilarity ensues!
Not only is Buckley lampooning all three branches of the federal government, he takes pot shots at reality television, the uninformed populace, and possibly the writers of The West Wing. Again, this is a very light and fluffy book. If you're looking for in-depth insight into the workings of the Supreme Court, you're barking up the wrong tree. If, however, you're looking for a pleasant and not too challenging way to pass a few hours, you could do a lot worse. Christopher Buckley makes me smile. And you'll never look at the Nimitz the same way again, LOL.
 Intelligent, informed & irreverent - political satire at its best August 21, 2008
12 out of 16 found this review helpful
In his latest novel, Christopher Buckley trains his trademark "outside insider's insight" on the Supreme Court to parody the political and personal undercurrents shaping how the Court works. The result is political satire at its best - a fun house mirror image of the inner workings of Washington that succeeds because it starts with a deep insight into the real world and then deftly distorts it to highlight the humor (and sometimes ridiculousness) of it all.
In simple overview, Supreme Courtship tells the tale of an unpopular President who overcomes a self-interested Senator's opposition to his Supreme Court nominees by nominating a wildly popular television judge to serve on the Court. Underlying that simple story is a series of finely-drawn caricatures and "ripped-from-the-headlines" sub-plots that offer a foil for Buckley's intelligent and irreverent commentary on a range of political and social themes.
Parodying the American public's infatuation with electing outsiders as President, Buckley presents President Vanderdamp as the ultimate outsider - a bowling fanatic who is actively trying not to be re-elected, which of course is just the boost his flagging popularity needs. Pitted against Vanderdamp is Dexter Mitchell, a Senator who so desperately wants to become President that he resigns his Senate seat to play one on TV, giving him just the name recognition and outsider status he needs to then run against President Vanderdamp. Pepper Cartwright, the former TV Judge whom President Vanderdamp appoints to the Supreme Court, combines Texas sass, New York sexy, and a frank and pragmatic Judge Judy jurisprudence to emerge as the Court's center of gravity and voice of reason. A host of other characters play their parts just as effectively - from the Scalia-like Justice Crispus to the "milk-the-formula's-success" TV producer Buddy Bixby (who is also Pepper's husband).
The result is a thoroughly enjoyable read. Like a welcoming host who likes your company, Buckley brings you inside a world he knows intimately so together you can share a few hours of knowing smiles, LOL's, and occasional scary-true grimaces at the stranger-than-fiction world of Washington.
An excellent Washington Satire September 15, 2008
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Writing political satire can be a challenging undertaking. An author risks either going into the purely silly and impossible, or making the story more realistic at the cost of losing comedic impact. I had never read any Christopher Buckley before, except an occasional newspaper piece (e.g. his recent NYT chart of GOP convention days, including a "rousing" speech by Fred Thompson), but he has managed to nicely balance these two considerations. His extensive knowledge of Washington is evident throughout, although I guess some of these would be "inside jokes" for those of us resident in D.C. He also has some solid funny points based on realistic legal concepts. I will resist suggesting that the central character, a tv judge nominated to fill a Supreme Court seat, comes across as being similar to how the media is trying to paint Governor Palin. At points, Buckley goes off the edge, but this only adds to the fun...we are too straight-laced here and a little jocularity can only be beneficial. So, enjoy this rare example of superior political satire and ask yourself is it any more bizarre than what really goes on here.
Judges without borders September 10, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
If you think the 2008 presidential campaign has a tendency to collapse into absurdity on any given day, Christopher Buckley's wonderful new book, "Supreme Courtship", is the perfect companion book to the real-live antics we currently witness. Filled with sui generis characters who are only a half-step away from actuality, Buckley creates scenarios that, given a twist here or a turn there, could happen in fact.
President Donald Vanderdamp has come upon a situation not unlike one that has been faced by former U.S. presidents...difficulty in getting a Supreme Court nominee through the Senate. Through a chance viewing of a court tv-like show, Vanderdamp hits on his choice... a straight-shootin' Texan host whose husband happens to be the producer. Meet Sarah Palin, southern style. Enormously unqualified to be a Supreme Court judge, Pepper Cartwright, nevertheless, becomes an instant darling of the nation and sails through her confirmation. On the court, however, responsibilities (and her personal life) catch up with her and all... well... fun breaks out, ending with a Constitutional crisis that would make Bush v. Gore seem like Law 101.
Author Buckley has a breezy narrative style that sets things up perfectly. A chapter devoted to Pepper's first case on the court, infuses Latin beyond its limits and is the most creative and hilarious part of the book. But Buckley ratchets things up to the final election mess with such finesse that it's a shame when the book finally ends. I highly recommend "Supreme Courtship" for its humor...and its relevance to the folly of our elected and appointed servants in Washington.
 Disappointing September 16, 2008
7 out of 14 found this review helpful
I ordered this book after seeing an interview with Christopher Buckley on the CBS Sunday Morning show. I have enjoyed several of his past efforts and this one sounded like a natural after hearing his explanation of his latest effort at satire.
Getting nominations to the US Supreme Court approved in the US when a Republican is President and the Democrats are in charge of the Senate has become politcal theater at it's worst since the nomination of Judge Robert Bork. Getting "borked" has become a verb in the English language and it is with that as background that Buckley sets out to take Washington to task once again.
The president in this novel has become so angered by the perfunctory manner in which two sterling nominees were turned down by the Senate Judiciary Committee chaired by a Senator who himself wants to be appointed, that he names The Hon. Pepper Cartwright to the Supreme Court vacancy. Cartwright is the TV judge of a hit television show and wildly popular with the American public.
That, to me, sounded like a story line that couldn't miss as great satire but alas and alak, I found this book often hitting wide of the target. Not that there aren't some hilarious parts to the book, but they were widely spaced and often disconnected from the central story.
I really wanted to like this book. Buckley confided to Leslie Stahl in his interview that his late father, William F. Buckley, Jr. was not a fan of his satire. Until this book, I would have disagreed with that sentiment. I hope his next effort finds him returning to form.
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