It took over thirteen years and three Freedom of Information lawsuits to get proof that the FBI sexually blackmailed Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas. Justice Fortas was already compromised by leaking information to the FBI about pending electronic surveillance cases. This was the most egregious violation of judicial ethics in Court history. The proof was hidden from Senate investigators, journalists, historians, and FOIA requesters for decades. The book contains an FBI document appendix.

A follow-up to Cloak and Gavel. FBI Wiretaps, Bugs, Informers, and the Supreme Court (Univ. of Illinois 1992). "The FBI's scandalous techniques ranged from illegal wiretapping to disinformation campaigns, to using Justice Abe Fortas as a Bureau informant." Harvard Law Review, Vol 106, p. 812. "Cloak and Gavel" . . . is the product of an eight-year struggle to force the FBI to reveal its Supreme Court snooping. Charns got . . . hard evidence that Hoover attempted to monitor the court's private deliberations and manipulate some of the justices." Wall Street Journal, A13, 9/1/92. "[A] bonanza of Supreme Court history, providing depth and perspective to some great cases of our time." St Louis Post-Dispatch, 10/18/92.