Mr. Justice (30 page)

* * * * *

President Burton exchanged pleasantries with the congressional escort committee—senior leaders of the U.S. House and Senate—while she watched the House majority floor services chief announce the vice president and the members of the Senate, who then entered the House chamber and took the seats assigned to them. Members of the House were already seated. The House majority floor services chief next announced the president’s cabinet, the dean of the diplomatic corps, and the chief justice and associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Two of the aforementioned dignitaries were absent from the speech. The first, a member of the president’s cabinet, was quickly identified by the media horde covering the State of the Union as the secretary of agriculture. This particular official was the “designated survivor,” the cabinet member who would provide continuity in the line of succession in the event that a catastrophe disabled the president, vice president, and other succeeding officers gathered in the House chamber for the president’s annual address. The second missing dignitary—an absentee who went unnoticed by the press—was Peter McDonald.

President Burton arrived at the door of the House chamber. The House sergeant at arms loudly proclaimed, “Mr. Speaker, the president of the United States.”

Cheers and applause filled the ornate room. President Burton walked slowly toward the Speaker’s rostrum, followed closely by the members of the escort committee. She shook hands, offered hugs, and posed for photographs with a myriad of congressmen.

The president took her place at the House clerk’s desk and then handed the vice president and the Speaker manila envelopes containing copies of her address. She was awash in good wishes. Her chest swelled with pride at the thought of all the good she could do for the country … and for the Klan. Akia, she said to herself. A klanswoman I am.

The Speaker of the House introduced the president to the representatives and senators: “Members of the Congress, I have the high privilege and the distinct honor of presenting to you the president of the United States.”

More cheers and applause ensued. The president held up her hands to try to quiet the crowd. One “thank you” was quickly followed by another.

Then, a
shot
rang out!

Then, a second
shot
!

The House chamber exploded into chaos.

A dozen Secret Service agents pushed aside everything and everyone in their path and rushed to the rostrum. But it was too late.

President Alexandra Burton was dead.

Peter McDonald—
Mr. Justice
McDonald—prayed for God’s forgiveness as he retreated from the balcony and raced to his car.

Clay Smith would be next.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fiction should entertain. It also can inform. I consulted the following nonfiction sources when researching this novel:

Allen, James, Hilto Als, John Lewis, and Leon F. Litward.
Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America
. Santa Fe, NM: Twin Palms, 2000.

This source provided the descriptions for most of the lynching scenes in this novel.

Booth v. Maryland, 482 U.S. 496 (1987).

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).

Chalmers, David M.
Hooded Americanism: The History of    the Ku Klux Klan
. 3d ed. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1987.

This source provided most of the history of the KKK described in this novel.

Dred Scott v. Sanford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857).

Gerber, Scott Douglas. “Justice Thomas and Mr. Jefferson.”
Legal Times
, 5 May 2003, 60, cols. 1-3, 61, cols. 1-2.

Gerber, Scott Douglas.
To Secure These Rights: The Declaration of Independence and Constitutional Interpretation
. New York: New York University Press, 1995.

Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003).

Nomination of Robert H. Bork to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States: Hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 100
^th
Cong. 1
^st
sess., 1987.

This source was used in this novel for Peter McDonald’s opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Horowitz, David A., ed.
Inside the Klavern: The Secret History of a Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s
. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press,  1999.

McGinnis, John O. “Impeachable Defenses.”
Policy Review
95 (1999): 27.

Newton, Michael, and Judy Ann Newton.
The Ku Klux Klan: An Encyclopedia
. New York: Garland, 1991.

Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, 501 U.S. 701 (2007).

Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808 (1991).

Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992).

Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896).

Sims, Patsy.
The Klan
. New York: Stein and Day,  1978.

Tucker, Richard K.
The Dragon and the Cross: The Rise and Fall of the Ku Klux Klan in Middle America
. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Press, 1991. This source provided most of the KKK terminology used in this novel.             

Wikipedia, “Robert C. Byrd,” last visited May 2, 2011, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_C._Byrd.

Wikipedia, “State of the Union address,” last visited May 2, 2011, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_the_Union_address.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am grateful to various family members, friends, and colleagues who commented on drafts of
Mr. Justice
or otherwise provided encouragement. They include Jay Brennan, Dina Egge, Margot Gerber, Stanford Gerber, Kevin Hawley, Julie Hilden, Ken McDonald, Margaret McDonald, Sandra McDonald, Ron Mollick, Leslie O’Kane, and Dan Wewers. I am also grateful to Brown University’s Political Theory Project for hosting me during my sabbatical while I finished both a nonfiction book,
A Distinct Judicial Power: The Origins of an Independent Judiciary, 1606-1787
(Oxford University Press, 2011), and this novel.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Scott Douglas Gerber is Professor of Law at Ohio Northern University, and Senior Research Scholar in Law and Politics at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center. He received both his Ph.D. and J.D. from the University of Virginia, and his B.A. from the College of William and Mary. He has had seven other books published, including
The Law Clerk: A Novel
. He finished
Mr. Justice
while on sabbatical at Brown University’s Political Theory Project.