Once known for his historically significant landmark decisions on civil rights for women and the handicapped, free speech, the right-to-die, and for banning discrimination, New York Chief Judge Sol Wachtler rose to the top of his profession and was a high roller in state politics-some saw him as a prime candidate for governor. But in a matter of months, the career of this rising judicial star was erased in a whirlwind of scandal over an affair with socialite Joy Silverman.
As an award-winning legal reporter for the Albany riffles Union, John M. Caher has followed Wachtler's career, the stalking scandal that led to Wachtler's ignomimous fall, and the former judge's efforts to redeem his reputation. Notwithstanding the media's preoccupation with Wachtler's infamous arrest, prosecution, and imprisonnient, Caher believes that his amazing life is deserving of a biography all its own. With Wachtler's full cooperation, Caher offers an objective look at the life and mind of the judge, closely examining and explaining, but not excusing, the dark side that doomed Wachtler and toppled him from the mountain where he had once reigned supreme.
King of. the Mountain is a forthright picture of Wachtler's persecuted boyhood in North Carolina, his early years in law, rise to the top within the powerful New York political leadership, and his appointment as chief judge by Gov. Mario Cuomo. Caher chronicles Wachtler's impact on the national scene, throuqh his decisions, judicial and administrative, and his role in shaping the court and influencing other judges to follow his ground-breaking lead, his attempts to stack the court, the steamy affair, and his efforts to rise from the ashes of disgrace and shame.
More than a simple biography, King of the Mountain also explores Wachtler'a brilliant, yet tormented mind. Caher derails the judge's struggle with mental illness, his misuse of prescription drugs, his fears of brain cancer; and a spiral of events that included long speaking tours; the deaths of close friends; a nationally publicized confrontation with Cuomo; the negative and vindictive influence of Sen. Alfonse D'Amato; and Wachtler's bizarre and intense behavior-alerting friends and family that something had gone terribly wrong.
John M. Caner (Troy, NY), the state editor of the Albany T!mes-Union, has received four John Peter Zenger Awards from the New-York State Bar Association, a Gavel Award from the American Bar Association and the Eagle Award from the Hearst Corporaticn.
Est. 400 pages ISBN 1-57392-197-1 Cloth
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