Introduction: the letters in law
Literary components in the legal imagination
The U.S. Constitution as literature
The place of mercy in legal discourse
Immigration law: an answer to intractability
The nature of judgment
Holmes and the judicial figure
The opinion as literary genre
Ulysses in government hands
The public uses of eloquence
Lawyer Lincoln: the making of eloquence
Memorialization and the spirit of law
Precision in persuasion
When law fails
The Somers Mutiny and the American ship of state
Invading Panama: circumstance and the rule of law
Coda: how to read a courtroom novel.