Donald K. (NjoyBoatn) reviewed on + 18 more book reviews
This is typical Grisham... captures the interest from the start. While this story is fiction one can find many similarities to real life.
After finishing the book I picked up the newspaper and read an article (excerpts & summary follow) about Massey Energy the nations 6th largest coal company located in W Va and operator of The Upper Big Branch mine. Big Branch has a troubled safety record and was hit with $900,000 in federal fines in 2009. for 500 alleged safety violations according to Labor Dept records.
Massey CEO lost a $50 Million verdict in a fraud lawsuit and spent $3 million to help elect a state appellate judge who ended up casting a crucial vote to overturn the verdict against Massey. The CEO has donated $50,200 to federal candidates since 1989 and people associated w/ Massey and it's PAC have donated $307,000 to federal political candidates since 1990.
The above resulted in a US Supreme Court dispute that tested the effect of campaign donations in judicial elections. The high court said "a judge must pull out of a case when a serious risk of actual bias arises". Now if we could just get the court to do the same with political contributions and bias!!!
This one will get you thinking about what really goes on behind the scenes in our political and justice system.
After finishing the book I picked up the newspaper and read an article (excerpts & summary follow) about Massey Energy the nations 6th largest coal company located in W Va and operator of The Upper Big Branch mine. Big Branch has a troubled safety record and was hit with $900,000 in federal fines in 2009. for 500 alleged safety violations according to Labor Dept records.
Massey CEO lost a $50 Million verdict in a fraud lawsuit and spent $3 million to help elect a state appellate judge who ended up casting a crucial vote to overturn the verdict against Massey. The CEO has donated $50,200 to federal candidates since 1989 and people associated w/ Massey and it's PAC have donated $307,000 to federal political candidates since 1990.
The above resulted in a US Supreme Court dispute that tested the effect of campaign donations in judicial elections. The high court said "a judge must pull out of a case when a serious risk of actual bias arises". Now if we could just get the court to do the same with political contributions and bias!!!
This one will get you thinking about what really goes on behind the scenes in our political and justice system.
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