Challenging Cases: Judges Tell the Stories of High-Profile and Other Tough Cases

Following on the success of Tough Cases, called “A law buff’s dream” by headbutler.com, Challenging Cases collects judges’ firsthand stories of deciding cases when the world is watching

Most cases judges decide garner little public attention. But occasionally, a case is tried both in the courtroom and in the court of public opinion. In Challenging Cases, some of the country’s leading jurists talk about the most high-profile cases they’ve handled—ones where the eyes of the world were upon them.

Whether the defendant was a beloved major league baseball player, a movie star, or a well-known sex-offender, or whether the topic addressed an especially contentious aspect of the culture wars, these cases played out before millions of on-lookers, adding a whole new dimension to what is already a Solomonic responsibility.

In their previous book, Tough Cases, called “an unprecedented view from the bench” by legal commentator Greta van Susteren, and “a genuine revelation” by Justin Driver in The Washington Post, Judges Canan, Mize, and Weisberg made us privy to the thought processes of judges making some of their hardest legal decisions. In Challenging Cases, over a dozen judges from courts in California, DC, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Virginia, Washington State, and even Kosovo speak to the added challenge of trials involving high-profile defendants. Cases include:

• the perjury trial of Roger Clemens
• the sentencing of January 6th rioters
• the case of Dr. Larry Nassar, accused of the sexual abuse of hundreds of female athletes
• the Kosovo international war crimes trial
• the Johnny Depp trial

Providing the fodder for a whole new season of Law and Order, Challenging Cases is for every actual and armchair legal beagle in the country.

Russell F. Canan is currently a senior judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and an adjunct professor at the George Washington University School of Law. He lives in Washington, DC.

Gregory E. Mize is currently a senior judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and is an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. He lives in Washington, DC.

Frederick H. Weisberg is currently a senior judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and teaches regularly in the Trial Advocacy Workshop at Harvard Law School. He lives in Washington, DC.