Book Review: Supreme Courtship

Christopher Buckley's newest book, Supreme Courtship, might have been a great piece of escapism from the follies and foibles of the current Presidential election season but for one thing. Buckley's protagonist, Judge Pepper Cartwright, seems to be a Sarah Palin clone. And Buckley's book was published before Palin was chosen for the veep position on the Republican ticket, thus showing the prescience of the author.

Okay, so Pepper is a Texan, not an Alaskan. And she's the judge on a reality tv show a la Judge Judy, not a governor. And she's soon to be single with no children. But otherwise...she hunts and shoots and is blunt and very western.

Here's the premise-- President Donald Vanderkamp has had two eminently qualified nominees for a vacant Supreme Court position shot down by the Senate Judiciary Committee led by a smarmy Senator who covets the appointment for himself. When the second one is shot down for not appreciating To Kill a Mockingbird enough for the Chairman's taste, sick to death of this absurd wrangling, POTUS surfs his TV and stumbles upon Pepper's show.

A diabolical plot is born in his mind, and he nominates her to the Supreme Court position despite the horror and dismay of his advisors. POTUS desperately wants to loose his race for re-election, so he cannot be disuaded from what others see as his reckless insistence on Pepper's nomination.What follows is a witty satire of the confirmation process. It's a hilarious ride to the end of the story, but it did leave me a bit uneasy because its just absurd enough to be plausible.

Fans of Christopher Buckley, you won't want to miss this one!

Update: Viola kindly pointed out my mistake in saying that Palin was on the Democratic party's ticket--ugh. Sorry, everyone! How stupid was that? I made the correction in the post above. Thanks, Viola!