A noted civil libertarian, Abe Fortas (1910-1982) served only four years on the Supreme Court before a series of charges led to his resignation. Abe Fortas, who was nominated by his friend President Lyndon B. Johnson to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1965,...

Strom: The Complicated Personal and Political Life of Strom Thurmond, by Jack Bass and Marilyn W. Thompson. PublicAffairs, 415 pages, $27.50. Of the many strange moments during the 1999 impeachment of President Bill Clinton, the strangest may have come when Senator Strom Thurmond swore...