The title of this superb new collection of 44 essays, “Loose Sallies,” led me to believe that Daniel J. Kornstein—a highly regarded attorney who has written several books and articles on the law and its relationship to literature—had decided to try his hand at fiction. But an opening note advises that the word “essay” is defined by Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary (1755) as “A loose sally of the mind; an irregular undigested piece; not a regular and orderly composition.”
Yet, while titled “Loose Sallies,” this book offers exquisitely focused, elegantly written, coherent discussions of some of the most important aspects of American exceptionalism and the practical role that seminal U.S. Supreme Court decisions play on the vitality of the American democratic experiment.
