The Pelican Brief Read Online Free

to lose. “I mean, we’ve read case after case where Rosenberg has tried to rewrite the Constitution to create a new loophole to exclude evidence to allow an obviously guilty defendant to go free. It’s almost sickening. He thinks all prisons are cruel and unusual places, so therefore, under the Eighth Amendment, all prisoners should go free. Thankfully, he’s in the minority now, a shrinking minority.”
    “You like the direction of the Court, do you,Mr. Sallinger?” Callahan was at once smiling and frowning.
    “Damned right I do.”
    “Are you one of those normal, red-blooded, patriotic, middle-of-the-road Americans who wish the old bastard would die in his sleep?”
    There were a few chuckles around the room. It was safer to laugh now. Sallinger knew better than to answer truthfully. “I wouldn’t wish that on anyone,” he said, almost embarrassed.
    Callahan was pacing again. “Well, thank you, Mr. Sallinger. I always enjoy your comments. You have, as usual, provided us with the layman’s view of the law.”
    The laughter was much louder. Sallinger’s cheeks flushed and he sank in his seat.
    Callahan did not smile. “I would like to raise the intellectual level of this discussion, okay. Now, Ms. Shaw, why is Rosenberg sympathetic to Nash?”
    “The Second Amendment grants the people the right to keep and bear arms. To Justice Rosenberg, it is literal and absolute. Nothing should be banned. If Nash wants to possess an AK-47, or a hand grenade, or a bazooka, the state of New Jersey cannot pass a law prohibiting it.”
    “Do you agree with him?”
    “No, and I’m not alone. It’s an eight-to-one decision. No one followed him.”
    “What’s the rationale of the other eight?”
    “It’s obvious, really. The states have compelling reasons to prohibit the sale and possession of certain types of arms. The interests of the state of New Jersey outweigh the Second Amendment rights of Mr. Nash.Society cannot allow individuals to own sophisticated weaponry.”
    Callahan watched her carefully. Attractive female law students were rare at Tulane, but when he found one he moved in quickly. Over the past eight years, he had been quite successful. Easy work, for the most part. The women arrived at law school liberated and loose. Darby had been different. He first spotted her in the library during the second semester of her first year, and it took a month to get her to dinner.
    “Who wrote the majority opinion?” he asked her.
    “Runyan.”
    “And you agree with him?”
    “Yes. It’s an easy case, really.”
    “Then what happened to Rosenberg?”
    “I think he hates the rest of the Court.”
    “So he dissents just for the hell of it.”
    “Often, yes. His opinions are becoming more indefensible. Take Nash . For a liberal like Rosenberg, the issue of gun control is easy. He should have written the majority opinion, and ten years ago he would have. In Fordice v. Oregon , a 1977 case, he took a much narrower interpretation of the Second Amendment. His inconsistencies are almost embarrassing.”
    Callahan had forgotten Fordice . “Are you suggesting Justice Rosenberg is senile?”
    Much like a punch-drunk fighter, Sallinger waded in for the final round. “He’s crazy as hell, and you know it. You can’t defend his opinions.”
    “Not always, Mr. Sallinger, but at least he’s still there.”
    “His body’s there, but he’s brain-dead.”
    “He’s breathing, Mr. Sallinger.”
    “Yeah, breathing with a machine. They have to pump oxygen up his nose.”
    “But it counts, Mr. Sallinger. He’s the last of the great judicial activists, and he’s still breathing.”
    “You’d better call and check,” Sallinger said as his words trailed off. He’d said enough. No, he’d said too much. He lowered his head as the professor glared at him. He hunkered down next to his notebook, and started wondering why he’d said all that.
    Callahan stared him down, then began pacing again. It was indeed a bad