John Grisham stopped by The View to promote his latest novel, Camino Ghosts, but it was a comment about one of his older novels that raised some eyebrows.
Grisham’s latest book, his 50th, tells the story of a resort developer called Tidal Breeze that is desperate to get its hands on a barrier island; the lone resident of the island is determined not to let that happen. A critic for Kirkus called the novel “fine Grisham storytelling that his fans will enjoy.”
The View co-host Joy Behar asked Grisham, a former lawyer and Mississippi state representative, about the Supreme Court, which she noted has been plagued by scandals recently.
“I wrote a great book called The Pelican Brief,” Grisham said to applause from the audience, “in which two Supreme Court justices were assassinated. And I thought about doing it again.”
The audience laughed, prompting co-host Whoopi Goldberg to say, “Writing Part 2. He’s talking about writing Part 2.”
“It’s all fiction,” Grisham said. “Don’t get upset.”
He went on to say, “The court has never looked this bad in my lifetime. Some of the rulings, the ethical challenges—it went downhill in 2000 when five Republicans on the court chose to elect the president. That was the most political—Bush v. Gore—and that’s when it all started really going downhill. A 5-4 decision, and the court gets worse every term. I have no solution, because you can’t get rid of them. The solution is, make them all retire at the age of 75.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
