The Theatrical Lives of Justices

The Theatrical Lives of Justices explores the Supreme Court of the United States as a site of performance and examines Supreme Court justices as deliberate, practiced performers. The book focuses on three interrelated questions: How does the Court’s work encourage theatrical performances from its contemporary justices? How have experiences in the performing arts served the justices? How have justices been portrayed onstage and onscreen? From The Magnificent Yankee to Saturday Night Live , embodied performances have offered the public images of an institution that has historically sought invisibility. Justices in the late-twentieth and early-twenty-first centuries, however, have boldly sought the limelight themselves. They operate increasingly as celebrities, their own performances commingling with other representations of the Court. To function effectively under such spotlights, justices must draw on and continue to develop a performance literacy. The justices’ theatrical lives—their own ventures onto screens and stages, including the Court itself—highlight the growing role that performance plays at the apex of the US judiciary.