Defending Justice Scalia while dishing dirt on past GOP judicial nominees and also-rans

Northwestern law professor Stephen Calbresi and Brown University student Justin Braga have posted a review and reply to Bruce Allen Murphy's book on Justice Antonin Scalia, A Court of One. This book has been widely criticized and (based on the accounts of critics such as Justin Driver and Ed Whelan) contains numerous inaccuracies. Calabresi and Braga go one step farther, labeling Murphy's book "bigoted."

Calabresi and Braga also have quite a bit to say about Murphy's account of how Justice Scalia's confirmation to the Supreme Court may have influenced subsequent Supreme Court nominations. As Josh Blackman notes, this provides them with ample opportunity to dish dirt on those who were considered as potential GOP nominees to the High Court in the 1980s and early 1990s—and dish dirt they do, drawing heavily on Calabresi's personal experience in the Reagan and Bush Administrations, including Justice David Souter, Judge Richard Posner, Judge Harvie Wilkinson, and Judge Kenneth Starr. It's quite a read.