Book Review | The Great Dissenter

THE GREAT DISSENTER: The Story of John Marshall Harlan, America’s Judicial Hero | Peter S. Canellos, Simon & Schuster, 624p. 

While most famous for his ringing dissent in Plessy (1896) rebuking the SCOTUS majorities' adoption of separate but equal, the full biography of this Justice is an extraordinary American tale. An executive editor at Politico takes the reader through cases dealing with American citizenship, monopolies, and prejudice against Asian Americans. 

Born before the Civil War in Kentucky, Harlan fought on the side of the Union yet opposed ratification of the 13th Amendment. Formerly a Democrat, he becomes a Republican. His half-brother, one of America’s first biracial millionaires, was a political powerbroker who helped secure a GOP Court appointment for John Marshall Harlan from President Rutherford B. Hayes. 

At times, the book tells the twin stories of these two half-brothers, interweaving their lives and adventures in a fashion that gives an unprecedented series of insights into American life in the era of Reconstruction and after. 

During his 34 years on the High Court, Harlan was an anomaly. He was not of a wealthy background, was a former Democrat, and came from a border state. 

Harlan intervened in a capital punishment case, staying the execution of what historical evidence suggests was a wrongly convicted black man. This stay was futile as it didn’t stop a Chattanooga mob from breaking into the jail and hanging the young man from a nearby bridge. The mob also had choice words for Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan. 

Harlan showed remarkable courage throughout his life on challenging issues - even when he was wrong - and would eventually change his position. Canellos biography is a well-told story of a complex man living in contentious times. A man, like all others, who was fallible, mistaken, triumphant, and at times melancholy. It’s a book well worth the effort to understand a critical - yet often overlooked - period of American history with its warts, trials, tribulations, and triumphs.