"This book will renew your faith that the judiciary can strengthen democracy rather than diminish it."—Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic
The weakening of the federal courts—and how they can restore their power and Americans' access to justice—told through the lives of three remarkable judges.
Despite the outsize public attention paid to the Supreme Court, federal trial courts are at the heart of US democracy. Through the stories of Jed Rakoff, Martha Vázquez, and Carlton Reeves, lawyer and acclaimed journalist Reynolds Holding recounts how the erosion of federal court power and people's ability to seek justice has undermined our constitutional system and charts a way to repair the damage done. Combining archival and legal records with hours of intimate interviews with the principal characters and their clerks, colleagues, friends, and families, he animates the lives and work of the judges who are the first, and usually only, stop for ordinary people seeking justice.
Over the past six decades, the federal courts have been constrained⎯by Congress, by the executive, and especially by the Supreme Court⎯to the point where they can no longer do what we count on them to do. Holding makes the bold case that judges are good for democracy and should have more power, not less. In Better Judgment, he offers a lively, up-close judicial biography of resistance.
Reynolds Holding is a journalist, Pulitzer Prize finalist, lawyer, and research scholar at Columbia Law School.
"This book will renew your faith that the judiciary can strengthen democracy rather than diminish it. Through masterful storytelling, sharp writing, and rigorous legal analysis, Reynolds Holding chronicles the lives of three remarkable judges who, in very different ways, have pushed America to be fairer and more just. It's a timeless story, but one that also very much matches this particular moment of public distrust in the courts."—Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic
"What role should federal courts play in our democracy? In Better Judgment, Holding gives us models of bold judges who use their power to advance equality and expand the promise of liberty. Tracing the history of how courts have both delivered and foundered in the past, this trenchant and smart book shows what they're still good for—at a moment when judges are being tested on whether they're willing to check other forms of power."—Emily Bazelon, author of Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration
"At a time when we are in desperate need of heroes, Holding has provided us profiles of three federal judges who should be an inspiration for us all. This beautifully written book provides a compelling account of three very different individuals, each of whom has dedicated their career to justice and the rule of law."—Erwin Chemerinsky, author of No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United States
"This unprecedented book shines a light on perhaps the most consequential and least examined judges in our federal system: the roughly 800 federal district judges holding life tenure. Taking readers into the chambers of three district judges of very different backgrounds and experience, Holding's engaging inside look at the ground level of our federal court system shows how judges on the front lines of legal battles grapple with rulings from the Marble Temple they find unjust. Full of revelations for lay readers and seasoned practitioners of the law alike, this is the very best of legal journalism."—Peter Irons, author of A People's History of the Supreme Court: The Men and Women Whose Cases and Decisions Have Shaped Our Constitution
"Holding is a master storyteller, weaving together the lives and cases of three federal judges to illuminate the power of the judiciary and its potential to advance democracy at a time when the rule of law has never been so vulnerable to attack."—Hannah Brenner Johnson, coauthor of Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the Supreme Court
352 pp.6 x 9
9780520396616$29.95|£25.00Hardcover
Sep 2025