On December 11, 2000, attorneys Theodore B. Olson and David Boies gave oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on opposing sides in Bush v. Gore, the case that ended the Florida recount in favor of presidential candidate George W. Bush. More than 12 years later, the Supreme Court issued another landmark decision, striking down California's Proposition 8, a voter initiative that denied same-sex couples the right to marry in the state. Again, Boies and Olson were in the courtroom--but this time, they fought on the same side.
Redeeming the Dream: The Case for Marriage Equality details Boies and Olson's five-year project to bring the Proposition 8 case through the courts. The two attorneys detail their argument's basis in the due process and equal protection guarantees of the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court precedent, making the legal foundations for their case clear to non-lawyer readers through careful and compelling descriptions of the planning and preparation that preceded each courtroom hearing. They also convey the drama and adventure of their courtroom battles while preserving the sense of frustration--and the requisite perseverance and tenacity--that is endemic to any long legal battle.
Throughout the book, Boies and Olson maintain the fundamental rightness of their view of the case, but they continue to couch their position in legal and social perspective, never devolving into partisan bickering or self-aggrandizement. Redeeming the Dream offers an inspiring and intimate account of a case that is likely to become a landmark in American civil rights. --Dani Alexis Ryskamp, blogger at The Book Cricket