Memoirs, Sentencings, Secret Rules: Judges’ Books in 2024

Two members of the US Supreme Court went on book tours this past year—but they’re not the only members of the judiciary with new titles for sale.

Justice Neil Gorsuch authored “Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law,” while Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson embarked on a cross-country media blitz to promote her memoir, “Lovely One.”

While their writings might not have been featured at the Apollo Theater, these senior or retired federal judges shared their thoughts on the Supreme Court, examined a new sentencing law, and exposed the secret rules of federal courthouses.

Here’s a look at books by federal judges that came out in 2024.

‘Vision’

Former DC Circuit Judge David Tatel in September published his memoir, “Vision: A Memoir of Blindness and Justice,” describing his legal career and the loss of his vision.

Once considered a potential Supreme Court pick, Tatel was the first blind federal appeals court judge. He was previously a civil rights lawyer and is now an attorney with Hogan Lovells.

The memoir made headlines for Tatel’s criticism of the Supreme Court, as he said it “veered off course” and was partly why he decided to step down from the bench.

“It was one thing to follow rulings I believed were wrong when they resulted from a judicial process I respected. It was quite another to be bound by the decisions of an institution I barely recognized, particularly when applying those decisions would mean eviscerating voting rights and eroding the capacity of the federal government to protect the health and safety of the American people,” Tatel wrote.

‘A Second Chance’

A senior judge on the Eastern District of New York, Frederick Bloc, in September published his latest book, “A Second Chance: A Federal Judge Decides Who Deserves It.”

In the book, Bloc reviews six cases in which incarcerated people petitioned him for release under the recently passed First Step Act, explaining the outcome and his reasoning behind it.

“I especially embrace that part of the act that gives me the discretion to reconsider a previously imposed sentence,” Bloc writes in the book’s introduction. “I believe in the biblical concept of redemption and that the First Step Act appropriately provides a path to allow a worthy prisoner a second chance to live a law-abiding life.”

He also argues that the act should be expanded to include state court judges, who don’t have the ability to similarly review their sentences.

‘Written and Unwritten’

Second Circuit Senior Judge Jon O. Newman teamed up with Duke University professor Marin Levy for “Written and Unwritten: The Rules, Internal Procedures, and Customs of the United States Courts of Appeals.”

The senior Second Circuit judge and academic wrote the book to examine the rules of the 13 federal appeals courts in the US, which each have their own procedures and quirks. They interviewed the chief judges of all of those courts, as well as surveyed the courts’ clerks to learn more about customs that are typically only known to insiders.

“The answers to these and hundreds of other questions are largely unknown, not only to lawyers and legal academics, but by many within the judiciary itself,” according to the book’s description. “Written and Unwritten is the first book to provide an inside look at how these courts operate.”