# Authenticity of Rosenberg (Grisham's "Pelican Brief") **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 9, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authenticity-of-rosenberg-grishams-pelican-brief/343735 "2006-02-09T20:58:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authenticity-of-rosenberg-grishams-pelican-brief/343735/1 "2006-02-09T20:58:46Z")
John Grisham’s novel _The Pelican Briefs_ features fictitious Supreme Court justice Abraham Rosenberg, who, aged 91, nearly deaf and blind and tied to artificial respiration after several strokes, refuses to retire because he’s waiting for a liberal in the White House to nominate his successor. Since the process of nominating and confirming federal justices in the U.S. has been in the focus of public attention recently, I wonder whether Justice Rosenberg is entirely fictitious or whether his character was modeled after a real justice on the Court. Anybody knows what Grisham might have had in mind? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authenticity-of-rosenberg-grishams-pelican-brief/343735/2 "2006-02-09T21:11:42Z")
Sounds like he’s based on [William O. Douglas](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_O._Douglas). > [@](#): > > On December 31, 1974, while on vacation in the Bahamas, Douglas suffered a debilitating stroke. Severely disabled, Douglas nevertheless insisted on continuing to participate in Supreme Court affairs, despite his obvious incapacity. In one of the most wrenching episodes in Supreme Court history, seven of Douglas’s fellow justices voted to put any argued case in which Douglas’s vote might make a difference over to the next term. At the urging of his friend and former student Abe Fortas, Douglas finally retired on November 12, 1975, after 36 years of service. While President Gerald Ford was gracious upon Douglas’s retirement, the irony is inescapable that his most bitter political enemy was allowed to name his replacement on the Court. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authenticity-of-rosenberg-grishams-pelican-brief/343735/3 "2006-02-09T22:54:13Z")
Why was Gerald Ford his most bitter political enemy? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authenticity-of-rosenberg-grishams-pelican-brief/343735/4 "2006-02-09T23:03:50Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Why was Gerald Ford his most bitter political enemy? 😕 Ford tried to impeach Douglas because Douglas sat on a board of/accepted money from an organization founed and run by somebody who had ties to organized crime and also didn’t recuse himself from a case involving a magazine he had published an article in. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authenticity-of-rosenberg-grishams-pelican-brief/343735/5 "2006-02-10T00:04:22Z")
Huh. Gerald Ford acting as though ethical lapses should have actual consequences. Who’da thunk. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authenticity-of-rosenberg-grishams-pelican-brief/343735/6 "2006-02-10T01:19:42Z")
And what did Ford do with the opportunity? He appointed a justice at least as liberal as Douglas. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authenticity-of-rosenberg-grishams-pelican-brief/343735/7 "2006-02-10T04:49:53Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > And what did Ford do with the opportunity? He appointed a justice at least as liberal as Douglas. Very few people were as liberal as Douglas. Stevens is liberal, but he’s to the right of Douglas