One weekend I sat down to read James Madison's notes on the debates of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, all 500-plus pages, from cover to cover. I was angry because I thought my opponent in a lawsuit was misstating what happened in Philadelphia that summer. Once I started reading, I stopped worrying about my case. Instead, I focused on the drama, the wisdom, and the occasional depressing blunder of the fifty-five Framers who wrote the Constitution. I thought I knew a lot about the subject. I had clerked at the Supreme Court for Justice Lewis F. Powell, and had litigated many constitutional cases. But there was so much I didn't know. I decided that I wanted to tell that story. Now, a few years later and after a lot of research, I have. Simon & Schuster released The Summer of 1787 last April, and the response has been gratifying. It was well-reviewed in the New York Times, hit the Washington Post bestseller list for several weeks, made a couple of "best books" lists for 2007, and is in its sixth printing.

My legal experiences were a huge help in this effort. As a trial lawyer for twenty-five years, most of them with Ropes & Gray in Washington, I have defended accused criminals, challenged government action as unconstitutional, and argued many appeals (including two to the U.S. Supreme Court). I also was lead defense counsel in the Senate impeachment trial of Judge Walter L. Nixon, Jr.But writing also has been a big part of my life, beginning before law school when I was a reporter for the Staten Island Advance and including almost ten years of monthly columns on the Supreme Court for the American Bar Association Journal (five of those columns appear in The Supreme Court and Its Justices, published by ABA Press). I also have written frequently on legal topics; you can read a few of these on the "Other Writings" page. In recent years I have turned to fiction, publishing a short story (When They Did It) in New Millennium Writings that was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. A novel is currently represented by Philippa Brophy of Sterling Lord Literistic in New York.

What's next? In May 2009, Simon & Schuster will release Impeached:  The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy.  That 1868 trial was another moment when the nation's fate hung in the balance. America's challenges after the Civil War were immense. How to bind up the nation's wounds after four years of murderous war, yet still protect four million freed slaves from the unbridled prejudices of the day? Andrew Johnson - racist, stubborn, and deaf to the views of others - was not equal to those excruciating challenges. The Radical Republicans, led by the fiercely brilliant Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania, fought for two years to force the president to defend the rights of the freedmen. Stevens' iron will and sheer cussedness produced the final confrontation in the impeachment trial, from which no one emerged a winner.  The book explores long-ignored evidence of bribery and corrupt influences in the final Senate vote

News from Maryland's finest public official, Nancy Floreen (also my wife), can be found at http://nancyfloreen.blogspot.com.