Overview

INCLUDES A NEW EPILOGUE BY THE AUTHOR The Challenge tells the inside story of an improbable act of patriotism. At its center are Navy lawyer Charles Swift and Georgetown law professor Neal Katyal, two men who, in the aftermath of 9/11, found themselves defending an accused Yemeni terrorist named Salim Hamdan in America's first military tribunals since World War II. The entire system was stackd against them, and Swift's superiors were pressing him to enter a guilty plea. Instead, he and Katyal sued the Bush administration on their client's behalf, arguing that his trial and treatment were illegal and unconstitutional. In the spring of 2006, the case, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, reached the Supreme Court. The resulting ruling changed the legal landscape of the War on Terror, and it has been called the Court's most important decision ever on presidential power and the rule of law. Jonathan Mahler's gripping, detailed chronicle follows the case from Yemen to Guantanamo to the courtrooms and the chambers of power in Washington, delivering ""the definitive work on an epic Supreme Court case--and on the human beings behind the headlines"" (Jeffrey Toobin, author of The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court).

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9780312428853

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Reviews

<p> [ The Challenge ] tells the story of a captive who gave his name to a great constitutional decision, and it describes the personal struggles of his lawyers, their courage, and their faults. . . . A work of rare drama. ---Anthony Lewis, The New York Review of Books <br> A riveting read. --- San Francisco Chronicle <br> The Challenge is not just a very readable account of an important case. It is also an intimate account of the lawyers who overcame personal conflicts, animus, and flaws to produce a decision for the ages. --- The New York Times <br> An excellent legal thriller . . . It's through Mahler's brilliant narrative of these characters that he weaves together the broader, legally complex story of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. --- The Toronto Star <br> Mahler excels at telling the story of a talented, fractious team coming together for a greater goal. --- The New Yorker <br> For those who thrill to what might be called the geology of American constitutional bedrock, The Ch

<p><p> [ The Challenge ] tells the story of a captive who gave his name to a great constitutional decision, and it describes the personal struggles of his lawyers, their courage, and their faults. . . . A work of rare drama. ---Anthony Lewis, The New York Review of Books<br><br> A riveting read. --- San Francisco Chronicle <br><br> The Challenge is not just a very readable account of an important case. It is also an intimate account of the lawyers who overcame personal conflicts, animus, and flaws to produce a decision for the ages. --- The New York Times <br><br> An excellent legal thriller . . . It's through Mahler's brilliant narrative of these characters that he weaves together the broader, legally complex story of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld . --- The Toronto Star <br><br> Mahler excels at telling the story of a talented, fractious team coming together for a greater goal. --- The New Yorker <br><br> For those who thrill to what might be called the geology of American constitutional bedrock, The Challenge is a riveting read. --- The New York Sun<br> <p><p>

[The Challenge] tells the story of a captive who gave his name to a great constitutional decision, and it describes the personal struggles of his lawyers, their courage, and their faults. . . . A work of rare drama. --Anthony Lewis, The New York Review of Books A riveting read. --San Francisco Chronicle The Challenge is not just a very readable account of an important case. It is also an intimate account of the lawyers who overcame personal conflicts, animus, and flaws to produce a decision for the ages. --The New York Times An excellent legal thriller . . . It's through Mahler's brilliant narrative of these characters that he weaves together the broader, legally complex story of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. --The Toronto Star Mahler excels at telling the story of a talented, fractious team coming together for a greater goal. --The New Yorker For those who thrill to what might be called the geology of American constitutional bedrock, The Challenge is a riveting read. --The New York Sun [ The Challenge ] tells the story of a captive who gave his name to a great constitutional decision, and it describes the personal struggles of his lawyers, their courage, and their faults. . . . A work of rare drama. Anthony Lewis, The New York Review of Books A riveting read. San Francisco Chronicle The Challenge is not just a very readable account of an important case. It is also an intimate account of the lawyers who overcame personal conflicts, animus, and flaws to produce a decision for the ages. The New York Times An excellent legal thriller . . . It's through Mahler's brilliant narrative of these characters that he weaves together the broader, legally complex story of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. The Toronto Star Mahler excels at telling the story of a talented, fractious team coming together for a greater goal. The New Yorker For those who thrill to what might be called the geology of American constitutional bedrock, The Challenge is a riveting read. The New York Sun [ The Challenge ] tells the story of a captive who gave his name to a great constitutional decision, and it describes the personal struggles of his lawyers, their courage, and their faults. . . . A work of rare drama. ---Anthony Lewis, The New York Review of Books A riveting read. --- San Francisco Chronicle The Challenge is not just a very readable account of an important case. It is also an intimate account of the lawyers who overcame personal conflicts, animus, and flaws to produce a decision for the ages. --- The New York Times An excellent legal thriller . . . It's through Mahler's brilliant narrative of these characters that he weaves together the broader, legally complex story of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. --- The Toronto Star Mahler excels at telling the story of a talented, fractious team coming together for a greater goal. --- The New Yorker For those who thrill to what might be called the geology of American constitutional bedrock, The Challenge is a riveting read. --- The New York Sun [ The Challenge ] tells the story of a captive who gave his name to a great constitutional decision, and it describes the personal struggles of his lawyers, their courage, and their faults. . . . A work of rare drama. ---Anthony Lewis, The New York Review of Books A riveting read. --- San Francisco Chronicle The Challenge is not just a very readable account of an important case. It is also an intimate account of the lawyers who overcame personal conflicts, animus, and flaws to produce a decision for the ages. --- The New York Times An excellent legal thriller . . . It's through Mahler's brilliant narrative of these characters that he weaves together the broader, legally complex story of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld . --- The Toronto Star Mahler excels at telling the story of a talented, fractious team coming together for a greater goal. --- The New Yorker For those who thrill to what might be called the geology of American constitutional bedrock, The Challenge is a riveting read. --- The New York Sun This is the definitive work on an epic Supreme Court case--and on the human beings behind the headlines. --Jeffrey Toobin, author of The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, A riveting read. -- San Francisco Chronicle [Mahler] excels at telling the story of a talented, fractious team coming together for a greater goal. --The New Yorker For those who thrill to what might be called the geology of American constitutional bedrock, The Challenge is a riveting read. --The New York Sun With an engaging writing style and eye to detail, Mr. Mahler...takes the reader through Mr. Hamdan's evolution from a street urchin to one of a handful of high value enemy combatants...If The Challenge offers a good account of the making of an implausible warrior jihadi, it provides an excellent account of the making of equally implausible warrior lawyers... The Challenge is not just a very readable account of an important case. It is also an intimate account of the lawyers who overcame personal conflicts, animus and flaws to produce a decision for the ages. It is an intriguing tale of how a unique convergence of personalities propelled an unlikely dabab driver from Yemen to international prominence. --Jonathan Turley, The New York Times The work of lawyers for a detainee is brilliantly explored in Jonathan Mahler's The Challenge: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Fight over Presidential Power, But it is much more than a book about law and lawyers. It tells the story of a captive who gave his name to a great constitutional decision; and it describes the personal struggles of his lawyers, their courage, and their faults. The result is a work of rare drama. --Anthony Lewis, New York Review of Books Mahler's fluent account of events is essential reading for students of constitutional law-and anyone concerned with civil rights. -- Kirkus [W]hat Mahler chronicles -- the seesaw process of constitutional challenges to the military commissions -- is of more than historical interest: It is part and parcel of all that has transpired in recent weeks and a portent of the future as well. --Art Winslow, Los Angeles Times One recalls the ethically simple Gideon's Trumpetwhen reading the latest great-case narrative, Jonathan Mahler's The Challenge: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Fight Over Presidential Power....A riveting read. --Michael O'Donnell, San Francisco Chronicle [Mahler] excels at telling the story of a talented, fractious team coming together for a greater goal: Charles Swift, a naval officer whose passionate commitment to the case scuttled his career and his marriage; Neal Katyal, a brilliant scholar whose arrogance alienated his allies; and Hamdan, a desperate, furious cipher. -- The New Yorker I was in the Pentagon on 9-11, and in its aftermath, I witnessed the most remarkable and chilling attempt to consolidate and abuse executive power, circumvent and ignore the rule of law, and reverse engineer due process and the rules of evidence to deny our newest enemies a fair trial. The Challenge is the riveting and very inside story of an unlikely coupling of two lawyers from two very different legal worlds, one military and one academic, who joined forces to restore our jurisprudential values. Jonathan Mahler captures the essence of their personalities and the truly heroic battles that they fought in a way that is both informative and fascinating. Do not get too comfortable though. This struggle--of epic constitutional proportions--continues, and every American who holds freedom dear must be educated about the dangers of executive power run amok. The Challenge is the book that will anchor that education. --Donald Guter, retired Admiral and former Judge Advocate General, U.S. Navy; Dean, Duquense Law School This is the definitive work on an epic Supreme Court case--and on the human beings behind the headlines. --Jeffrey Toobin, authorof The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court The Challenge is a rare achievement--a book as involving as it is important. The characters (real people, powerfully sketched) and the narrative (gripping as a movie) make Jonathan Mahler's book impossible to put down. And yet beneath the turning pages there's a firm spine: a profound meditation on what patriotism means and how durable our Constitution is. The classic American story: upholding the rules, meeting the standard, at high personal cost. This book has the great legal drama of an entertainment--the charge, the defender, the filing-in to the courtroom--but it ends as an inspiration. --David Lipsky, author of Absolutely American: Four Years at West Point Out of a great Supreme Court case Jonathan Mahler has made a riveting story. Here are the Guantanamo prisoner who challenged the President, the lawyers, the judges. I could not stop reading. --Anthony Lewis, author of Gideon's Trumpet The Challenge is the definitive insider's account of how a law professor and a military lawyer won a historic Supreme Court case against military commissions established by the Commander in Chief. Jonathan Mahler tells this improbable but important story in a gripping, accessible narrative that reveals both the promise and the limitations of judicial review in the age of terrorism. --Jack Goldsmith, Henry L. Shattuck Professor of Law, Harvard law School, and author of The Terror Presidency Mahler's fluent account of events is essential reading for students of constitutional law-and anyone concerned with civil rights. -- Kirkus [W]hat Mahler chronicles -- the seesaw process of constitutional challenges to the military commissions -- is of more than historical interest: It is part and parcel of all that has transpired in recent weeks and a portent of the future as well. --Art Winslow, Los Angeles Times One recalls the ethically simple Gideon's Trumpet when reading the latest great-case narrative, Jonathan Mahler's The Challenge: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Fight Over Presidential Power....A riveting read. --Michael O'Donnell, San Francisco Chronicle [Mahler] excels at telling the story of a talented, fractious team coming together for a greater goal: Charles Swift, a naval officer whose passionate commitment to the case scuttled his career and his marriage; Neal Katyal, a brilliant scholar whose arrogance alienated his allies; and Hamdan, a desperate, furious cipher. -- The New Yorker I was in the Pentagon on 9-11, and in its aftermath, I witnessed the most remarkable and chilling attempt to consolidate and abuse executive power, circumvent and ignore the rule of law, and reverse engineer due process and the rules of evidence to deny our newest enemies a fair trial. The Challenge is the riveting and very inside story of an unlikely coupling of two lawyers from two very different legal worlds, one military and one academic, who joined forces to restore our jurisprudential values. Jonathan Mahler captures the essence of their personalities and the truly heroic battles that they fought in a way that is both informative and fascinating. Do not get toocomfortable though. This struggle--of epic constitutional proportions--continues, and every American who holds freedom dear must be educated about the dangers of executive power run amok. The Challenge is the book that will anchor that education. --Donald Guter, retired Admiral and former Judge Advocate General, U.S. Navy; Dean, Duquense Law School This is the definitive work on an epic Supreme Court case--and on the human beings behind the headlines. --Jeffrey Toobin, author of The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court The Challenge is a rare achievement--a book as involving as it is important. The characters (real people, powerfully sketched) and the narrative (gripping as a movie) make Jonathan Mahler's book impossible to put down. And yet beneath the turning pages there's a firm spine: a profound meditation on what patriotism means and how durable our Constitution is. The classic American story: upholding the rules, meeting the standard, at high personal cost. This book has the great legal drama of an entertainment--the charge, the defender, the filing-in to the courtroom--but it ends as an inspiration. --David Lipsky, author of Absolutely American: Four Years at West Point Out of a great Supreme Court case Jonathan Mahler has made a riveting story. Here are the Guantanamo prisoner who challenged the President, the lawyers, the judges. I could not stop reading. --Anthony Lewis, author of Gideon's Trumpet The Challenge is the definitive insider's account of how a law professor and a military lawyer won a historic Supreme Court case against military commissions established by the Commander in Chief. Jonathan Mahler tells this improbable but importantstory in a gripping, accessible narrative that reveals both the promise and the limitations of judicial review in the age of terrorism. --Jack Goldsmith, Henry L. Shattuck Professor of Law, Harvard law School, and author of The Terror Presidency I was in the Pentagon on 9-11, and in its aftermath, I witnessed the most remarkable and chilling attempt to consolidate and abuse executive power, circumvent and ignore the rule of law, and reverse engineer due process and the rules of evidence to deny our newest enemies a fair trial. The Challenge is the riveting and very inside story of an unlikely coupling of two lawyers from two very different legal worlds, one military and one academic, who joined forces to restore our jurisprudential values. Jonathan Mahler captures the essence of their personalities and the truly heroic battles that they fought in a way that is both informative and fascinating. Do not get too comfortable though. This struggle--of epic constitutional proportions--continues, and every American who holds freedom dear must be educated about the dangers of executive power run amok. The Challenge is the book that will anchor that education. --Donald Guter, retired Admiral and former Judge Advocate General, U.S. Navy; Dean, Duquense Law School This is the definitive work on an epic Supreme Court case--and on the human beings behind the headlines. --Jeffrey Toobin, author of The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court The Challenge is a rare achievement--a book as involving as it is important. The characters (real people, powerfully sketched) and the narrative (gripping as a movie) make Jonathan Mahler's book impossible to put down. And yet beneath the turning pages there's a firm spine: a profound meditation on what patriotism means and how durable our Constitution is. The classic American story: upholding the rules, meeting the standard, at high personal cost. This book has the great legaldrama of an entertainment--the charge, the defender, the filing-in to the courtroom--but it ends as an inspiration. --David Lipsky, author of Absolutely American: Four Years at West Point Out of a great Supreme Court case Jonathan Mahler has made a riveting story. Here are the Guantanamo prisoner who challenged the President, the lawyers, the judges. I could not stop reading. --Anthony Lewis, author of Gideon's Trumpet The Challenge is the definitive insider's account of how a law professor and a military lawyer won a historic Supreme Court case against military commissions established by the Commander in Chief. Jonathan Mahler tells this improbable but important story in a gripping, accessible narrative that reveals both the promise and the limitations of judicial review in the age of terrorism. --Jack Goldsmith, Henry L. Shattuck Professor of Law, Harvard law School, and author of The Terror Presidency Hamdan v. Rumsfeld is the definitive insiders' account of how a law professor and a military lawyer convinced the Supreme Court to side with a close associate of Osama Bin Laden in his legal fight against military commissions established by the Commander-in-Chief. Jonathan Mahler tells this improbable but important story in a gripping, accessible narrative that reveals both the promise and the limitations of judicial review in the age of terrorism. --Jack Goldsmith, Henry L. Shattuck Professor of Law, Harvard law School, and author of The Terror Presidency Hamdan v. Rumsfeld is the definitive insiders' account of how a law professor and a military lawyer convinced the Supreme Court to side with a close associate of Osama Bin Laden in his legal fight against military commissions established by the Commander-in-Chief. Jonathan Mahler tells this improbable but important story in a gripping, accessible narrative that reveals both the promise and the limitations of judicial review in the age of terrorism. --Jack Goldsmith, Henry L. Shattuck Professor of Law, Harvard law School, and author of The Terror Presidency

[ The Challenge ] tells the story of a captive who gave his name to a great constitutional decision, and it describes the personal struggles of his lawyers, their courage, and their faults. . . . A work of rare drama. ---Anthony Lewis, The New York Review of Books A riveting read. --- San Francisco Chronicle The Challenge is not just a very readable account of an important case. It is also an intimate account of the lawyers who overcame personal conflicts, animus, and flaws to produce a decision for the ages. --- The New York Times An excellent legal thriller . . . It's through Mahler's brilliant narrative of these characters that he weaves together the broader, legally complex story of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. --- The Toronto Star Mahler excels at telling the story of a talented, fractious team coming together for a greater goal. --- The New Yorker For those who thrill to what might be called the geology of American constitutional bedrock, The Challenge is a riveting read. --- The New York Sun

[ The Challenge ] tells the story of a captive who gave his name to a great constitutional decision, and it describes the personal struggles of his lawyers, their courage, and their faults. . . . A work of rare drama. ---Anthony Lewis, The New York Review of Books A riveting read. --- San Francisco Chronicle The Challenge is not just a very readable account of an important case. It is also an intimate account of the lawyers who overcame personal conflicts, animus, and flaws to produce a decision for the ages. --- The New York Times An excellent legal thriller . . . It's through Mahler's brilliant narrative of these characters that he weaves together the broader, legally complex story of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld . --- The Toronto Star Mahler excels at telling the story of a talented, fractious team coming together for a greater goal. --- The New Yorker For those who thrill to what might be called the geology of American constitutional bedrock, The Challenge is a riveting read. --- The New York Sun

This is the definitive work on an epic Supreme Court case--and on the human beings behind the headlines. --Jeffrey Toobin, author of The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, <p> A riveting read. -- San Francisco Chronicle <p> [Mahler] excels at telling the story of a talented, fractious team coming together for a greater goal. --The New Yorker <p> For those who thrill to what might be called the geology of American constitutional bedrock, The Challenge is a riveting read. --The New York Sun <p> <p>

Author Information

JONATHAN MAHLER, a writer for The New York Times Magazine, is the author of Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning.

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