Fatal Error: The Miscarriage of Justice That Sealed the Rosenbergs' Fate

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Summary: The politicalization of the U.S. Supreme Court
Review: The U.S. Supreme Court has always been known as the nine old men (Sandra Day O'Connor included). In the summer of 1953, at the height of the cold war, it was known as the nine tired old men. The nine old men were tired of the case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, designated as America's most dangerous spies, whose espionage activities were the epitomized those seeking to undermine and take over America for Soviet communism. The Rosenbergs could be pointed to by those creating, and benefitting, from the cold war as an example of how those with privilege and position were working tirelessly to overthrown the government and leak its most precious secrets to an implacable enemy. But the author takes the reader past the obvious, past the well rehearsed rhethoric by asking a simple question--not whether they were guilty or innocent, but whether they received justice. If America is to show the world the superiority of its judicial system, where better than a case in which it dispenses justice to those most hated--traitors and spies. The book has two important themes. One, that the Rosenberg's attorney, Emmanuel Bloch, misunderstood the true nature of the case, thinking of it as just another communist party case. Two, that a secret agreement, in violation of the Code of Conduct and legal ethics, had been entered into between the Attorney General and the Chief Justice, without the presence of the Rosenbergs' attorneys, precluding any possibility that new evidence would be fairly adjudged by the High Court. "Fatal Error" outlines in dramatic and stunning detail how numerous judges ignored evidence pointing to a defective indictment by the U.S. government and aided and abetted the speedy execution of the Rosenbergs. In their briefs, attorneys Daniel Marshall and Fyke Farmer sought to alert both the Court and Emmanuel Bloch to the simple fact that the Rosenbergs, had they been indicted under the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, instead of the Espionage Act of 1917 would have, in all likelihood, received prison sentences that were contemporaneous with those received by other spies at that time. "Fatal Error" outlines a shockingly, sad, disgusting trail of legal and judicial malfeasance leading to the interior of the U.S. Supreme Court. As Philip Elman, a former law clerk remarked, "The Rosenberg case is the most disgusting, saddest, despicable espisode in the Court's history." "Fatal Error" is an explosive, dramatic, highly recommended expose of a heretofore unexposed episode in cold war history." Kenneth R. Kahn written a screenplay based on "Fatal Error" and is currently seeking an agent.