Nine scorpions in a bottle

by Max Lerner

The United States Supreme Court looms large in the public imagination. To many, its magisterial facade stands for the rule of law and the triumph of justice, a lofty and daunting symbol of the principles America holds to be sacred. But behind those towering pillars there has been so much infighting, intrigue, and backstabbing over the years that the legendary justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., reportedly described the Court as "nine scorpions in a bottle.". Nobody appreciated all of this more than Max Lerner, who was the acknowledged dean of Supreme Court observers. Beginning with the seminal articles he wrote for the Yale Law Journal in the 1930s, through to the New York Post columns that ran almost until his death in 1992, Lerner was driven by a passion to demystify the Court and to uncover the historical, social, and psychological underpinnings of its landmark decisions. He also believed in the majesty and even the mystique of the forum in which some of America's grandest dramas ha