For those interested in the original appointment of Justice Souter to the Court, I recommend (as I have previously) Jan Craford Greenburg’s outstanding book, Supreme Conflict. I blogged on it long ago and identified the Souter nomination as one of the most interesting parts of the book. Here’s what I wrote then:
Fourth, her rendition of the Souter nomination reads almost more as a comedy than a tragedy–the process and outcome was so farcical that it would be absurd to think that it would have been anything but random chance that Souter would have turned out to have been a Justice suitable to conservatives, so Greenburg hardly even wastes any ink suggesting that conservatives could have seriously been surprised or disappointed by how Souter has turned out.
I’m not aware of any other work that is as insightful as Greenburg’s on Supreme Court nominations. Not to mention that it is a truly fabulous read.