Hagiography
is an old literary form, dating back to early Christianity. It recounts the lives of the saints in order
to elicit the audience’s admiration. Although
its reverential character notoriously compromises accuracy, hagiographies can
be worth reading as windows into the
worldview of believers.
That’s
the value of Mollie Hemingway’s remarkably uncritical biography, Alito: The
Justice Who Reshaped the Supreme Court and Restored the Constitution. The book shows how Justice Samuel Alito and
his fans think of themselves. It also exposes
contradictions and delusions within the Alito-believer world view.
To
her credit, Hemingway carefully responds to questions that have been raised
about Alito’s judicial ethics.
To
her enormous discredit, she crosses the line into unethical journalism by
defaming the innocent.
I explain in a new piece at the Los Angeles Review of Books.