Bounds Law Library

Celebrating Women's History Month

by Justin Huston on 2022-03-24T12:30:00-05:00 | 0 Comments

First: Sandra Day O'Connor by Evan Thomas

Call Number: KF8745.O25 T46 2020

ISBN: 9780399589300

Publication Date: 2020-05-05

From Amazon: "NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The intimate, inspiring, and authoritative biography of Sandra Day O’Connor, America’s first female Supreme Court justice, drawing on exclusive interviews and first-time access to Justice O’Connor’s archives—as seen on PBS’s American Experience

'She’s a hero for our time, and this is the biography for our time.'—Walter Isaacson

Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by NPR and The Washington Post

She was born in 1930 in El Paso and grew up on a cattle ranch in Arizona. At a time when women were expected to be homemakers, she set her sights on Stanford University. When she graduated near the top of her law school class in 1952, no firm would even interview her. But Sandra Day O’Connor’s story is that of a woman who repeatedly shattered glass ceilings—doing so with a blend of grace, wisdom, humor, understatement, and cowgirl toughness.

She became the first ever female majority leader of a state senate. As a judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals, she stood up to corrupt lawyers and humanized the law. When she arrived at the United States Supreme Court, appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, she began a quarter-century tenure on the Court, hearing cases that ultimately shaped American law. Diagnosed with cancer at fifty-eight, and caring for a husband with Alzheimer’s, O’Connor endured every difficulty with grit and poise.

Women and men who want to be leaders and be first in their own lives—who want to learn when to walk away and when to stand their ground—will be inspired by O’Connor’s example. This is a remarkably vivid and personal portrait of a woman who loved her family, who believed in serving her country, and who, when she became the most powerful woman in America, built a bridge forward for all women.

Praise for First

'Cinematic . . . poignant . . . illuminating and eminently readable . . . First gives us a real sense of Sandra Day O’Connor the human being. . . . Thomas gives O’Connor the credit she deserves.'—The Washington Post

'[A] fascinating and revelatory biography . . . a richly detailed picture of [O’Connor’s] personal and professional life . . . Evan Thomas’s book is not just a biography of a remarkable woman, but an elegy for a worldview that, in law as well as politics, has disappeared from the nation’s main stages.'— The New York Times Book Review."

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon; Shana Knizhnik

Call Number: KF8745.G56 C37 2015

ISBN: 9780062415837

Publication Date: 2015-10-27

From Amazon: "Irin Carmon: I heard you can do 20 push-ups.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Yes, but we do 10 at a time. And then I breathe for a bit and do the second set.

Nearly a half century into being a feminist and legal pioneer, something funny happened to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: The octogenarian won the Internet. Across America, people who weren't even born when Ginsburg made her name are tattooing themselves with her face, setting her famously searing dissents to music, and making viral videos in tribute. In a class of its own, and much to Ginsburg's own amusement, is the Notorious RBG Tumblr, which juxtaposes the diminutive but fierce Jewish grandmother with the 350-pound rapper featuring original artwork submitted from around the world.

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg offers a rich, intimate, unprecedented look at the justice and how she changed the world. From Ginsburg's refusal to let the slammed doors of sexism stop her to her innovative legal work, from her before-its-time feminist marriage to her perch on the nation's highest court - with the fierce dissents to match - get to know RBG as never before. As the country struggles with the unfinished business of gender equality and civil rights, Ginsburg stands as a testament to how far we can come with a little chutzpah."

My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor

Call Number: KF8745.S67 A3 2014

ISBN: 9780345804839

Publication Date: 2014-01-07

From Amazon: "The first Hispanic and third woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor has become an instant American icon. Now, with a candor and intimacy never undertaken by a sitting Justice, she recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a journey that offers an inspiring testament to her own extraordinary determination and the power of believing in oneself.

Here is the story of a precarious childhood, with an alcoholic father (who would die when she was nine) and a devoted but overburdened mother, and of the refuge a little girl took from the turmoil at home with her passionately spirited paternal grandmother. But it was when she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes that the precocious Sonia recognized she must ultimately depend on herself. She would learn to give herself the insulin shots she needed to survive and soon imagined a path to a different life. With only television characters for her professional role models, and little understanding of what was involved, she determined to become a lawyer, a dream that would sustain her on an unlikely course, from valedictorian of her high school class to the highest honors at Princeton, Yale Law School, the New York County District Attorney’s office, private practice, and appointment to the Federal District Court before the age of 40. Along the way we see how she was shaped by her invaluable mentors, a failed marriage, and the modern version of extended family she has created from cherished friends and their children. Through her still-astonished eyes, America’s infinite possibilities are envisioned anew in this warm and honest book, destined to become a classic of self-invention and self-discovery."

Elena Kagan by Meg Greene

Call Number: KF8745.K34 G74 2014

ISBN: 9781440828973

Publication Date: 2013-12-09

From Amazon: "Elena Kagan can be considered a 'wild card' in terms of how she will vote and affect Supreme Court decisions. While largely considered a liberal, her lack of a judicial 'track record' and previous work as Solicitor General lend an air of uncertainty as to how she will react to upcoming cases that have proven highly divisive and controversial.

This full-length biography sheds light on Elena Kagan's life, covering her college years at Princeton and her experience in law school as well as her legal career, which eventually led her to a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. Appropriate for high school, college, and adult readers, the book not only documents Justice Kagan's life, achievements, and the possibilities for the future, but also how Kagan is an inspiring role model who demonstrated independence, determination, and high achievement throughout her career."

Amy Coney Barrett: Supreme Court Justice by Kate Conley

Call Number: KF8745.B39 C67 2022

ISBN: 9781532195938

Publication Date: 2021-08-01

From Amazon: "This title examines the life and career of the lawyer and judge who was confirmed to the US Supreme Court in 2020. Nominated by President Donald Trump in the final months of his term, Barrett became the fifth female justice in the history of the Supreme Court. Features include a glossary, web resources, source notes, and an index."

Essential Ketanji Brown Jackson: Decisions from the Bench by Ketanji Brown Jackson; Maxine Jenkins (ed.)

Call Number: KF213.J295 2022

ISBN: 9798411866322

Publication Date: 2022-02-03

From Amazon: "The Essential Ketanji Brown Jackson presents a collection of leading court judgments delivered in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The decisions of justice Ketanji Brown Jackson cover preliminary injunctions, summary judgments, and judicial review of executive orders. Some notable judgments contained in this book include Campaign for Accountability v. DOJ, Equal Rights Center v. Uber Technologies, and American Federation of Government Employees v. Trump. This book contains ten decisions, which are unedited and presented in their entirety."

The Supreme Court: An Essential History by Peter Charles Hoffer; Williamjames Hull Hoffer; N. E. H. Hull

Call Number: KF8742 .H64 2018

ISBN: 9780700626823

Publication Date: 2018-08-28

From Amazon: "For more than two centuries, the U.S. Supreme Court has provided a battleground for nearly every controversial issue in our nation’s history. Now a veteran team of talented historians—including the editors of the acclaimed Landmark Law Cases and American Society series—have updated the most readable, astute single-volume history of this venerated institution with a new chapter on the Roberts Court.

The Supreme Court chronicles an institution that dramatically evolved from six men meeting in borrowed quarters to the most closely watched tribunal in the world. Underscoring the close connection between law and politics, the authors highlight essential issues, cases, and decisions within the context of the times in which the decisions were handed down. Deftly combining doctrine and judicial biography with case law, they demonstrate how the justices have shaped the law and how the law that the Court makes has shaped our nation, with an emphasis on how the Court responded—or failed to respond—to the plight of the underdog.

Each chapter covers the Court’s years under a specific Chief Justice, focusing on cases that are the most reflective of the way the Court saw the law and the world and that had the most impact on the lives of ordinary Americans. Throughout the authors reveal how—in times of war, class strife, or moral revolution—the Court sometimes voiced the conscience of the nation and sometimes seemed to lose its moral compass. Their extensive quotes from the Court’s opinions and dissents illuminate its inner workings, as well as the personalities and beliefs of the justices and the often-contentious relationships among them.

Fair-minded and sharply insightful, The Supreme Court portrays an institution defined by eloquent and pedestrian decisions and by justices ranging from brilliant and wise to slow-witted and expedient. An epic and essential story, it illuminates the Court’s role in our lives and its place in our history in a manner as engaging for general readers as it is rigorous for scholars."

Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the Supreme Court by Hannah Brenner Johnson; Renee Knake Jefferson; Melissa Murray (Foreword by)

Call Number: KF8744 .J44 2020

ISBN: 9781479895915

Publication Date: 2020-05-12

From Amazon: "In 1981, Sandra Day O'Connor became the first female justice on the United States Supreme Court after centuries of male appointments, a watershed moment in the long struggle for gender equality. Yet few know about the remarkable women considered in the decades before her triumph. Shortlisted tells the overlooked stories of nine extraordinary women--a cohort large enough to seat the entire Supreme Court--who appeared on presidential lists dating back to the 1930s. Florence Allen, the first female judge on the highest court in Ohio, was named repeatedly in those early years. Eight more followed, including Amalya Kearse, a federal appellate judge who was the first African American woman viewed as a potential Supreme Court nominee. Award-winning scholars Renee Knake Jefferson and Hannah Brenner Johnson cleverly weave together long-forgotten materials from presidential libraries and private archives to reveal the professional and personal lives of these accomplished women. In addition to filling a notable historical gap, the book exposes the harms of shortlisting―it reveals how adding qualified female candidates to a list but passing over them ultimately creates the appearance of diversity while preserving the status quo. This phenomenon often occurs with any pursuit of professional advancement, whether the judge in the courtroom, the CEO in the corner office, or the coach on the playing field. Women, and especially female minorities, while as qualified as others on the shortlist (if not more so), find themselves far less likely to be chosen. With the stories of these nine exemplary women as a framework, Shortlisted offers all women a valuable set of strategies for upending the injustices that still endure. It is a must-read for those seeking positions of power as well as for the powerful who select them in the legal profession and beyond."

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