The Pelican Brief

Dressed like an old farmer and driving a stolen pick-up truck with fake license plates, a man named Luke waits beside an old, abandoned pier in North Carolina. Eventually, a boat quietly approaches and a mysterious figure disembarks. He introduces himself as Sam, though his name is Khamel and he is a wanted terrorist. They drive in silence in the stolen truck. Luke convinces himself that he knows Khamel’s identity but says nothing because he knows that, if he is correct, Khamel is one of the most dangerous men in the world. They arrive in Georgetown by dawn and Khamel enters the Four Seasons Hotel. Inside, he learns the identity of the people he has been hired to assassinate. He makes sure that his fee has been paid, double checks his plan, and then takes a nap.

The Supreme Court begins its new term. Rosenberg shows only brief flashes of his youthful passion; his many medical problems burden him. He sleeps through many of the arguments until clerk wheels him out, whereupon a security team escorts Rosenberg home. Rosenberg’s nurse Frederic places the Justice in front of the television for the evening. Afterward, Frederic serves Rosenberg’s dinner, washes Rosenberg, and then prepares him for bed. That evening, as Rosenberg sleeps, Khamel sneaks into the house dressed as a jogger. He kills Rosenberg, Frederic, and the cop assigned to guard them. He sneaks out of the house and jogs away.

Justice Jensen wears a disguise while he sits in a dark theater, watching homosexual pornography. He often sneaks out past his security detail to hide his sexuality—being openly gay would ruin his career. Khamel enters the theater and sits near Jensen. He snaps Jensen’s neck from behind. Once the Justice is dead, Khamel exits soundlessly. He drives to the airport to wait for his flight to Paris.

The President of the United States receives a phone call informing him that two Supreme Court Justices have been assassinated. He is in the Oval Office in eight minutes, where his chief of staff Fletcher Coal relishes the opportunity to appoint two conservative Justices and “restructure the Court” (35) to ensure a generation of conservative lawmaking. Coal and the President plot a response, including blaming the FBI for the lapse in security. The directors of the FBI and the CIA tell the President everything they know, which is currently little beyond the obvious. Voyles, the FBI director, defends his agency’s work while Gminski, the CIA director, assures the President that the murders are not “linked to any agency, operation, group, whatever, of the United States Government” (39). Coal plots the President’s response ahead of the next year’s election.

Darby wakes up early in Callahan’s bed. She drinks coffee as she watches the President address the nation about the murder of the two Justices. She wakes Callahan and they watch together as the President plays the part of “a wonderfully handsome man with a soothing voice” (42) to comfort a shocked nation. After the news report ends, Darby and Callahan discuss the motivation of the assassin. They cannot see a connection between the two Justices. So many people have a vested interest in ensuring that the Supreme Court remains as conservative as possible that trying to pinpoint the person or people responsible seems impossible. Callahan wants Darby to spend the day with him researching potential links while drinking, but she insists that she has classes to attend.

The President practices his putting in the Oval Office while Coal fields calls about the “wonderful crisis” (46) which has immediately boosted the President’s approval ratings. Voyles and Gminski have little in the way of new information, though the lack of any real clues makes Voyles suggest that the killer is “a professional assassin” (48) of the highest standard. Whoever it was had a huge amount of help in the form of a vast amount of detailed information about both targets. Voyles is hesitant to share any thoughts about anyone—including government figures—who might be involved in this conspiracy. His hesitancy angers Coal, who pressures Voyles to admit that a rightwing terrorist organization named the Underground Army is the “strongest possibility, for now” (51). When Voyles and Gminski leave, Coal and the President discuss the batch of very conservative men they hope to appoint to the Supreme Court.

Voyles talks with one of his staff after leaving the White House. The subordinate, Lewis, reveals that the FBI is interested in a new possible suspect. Wealthy Florida industrialist Nelson Muncie was the uncle of a young girl murdered by a Black man named Buck Tyrone. The appeal went all the way to the Supreme Court, where a Rosenberg decision allowed Tyrone to walk free. According to rumors, Muncie paid for Tyrone to be tortured and killed and now harbors a long-time grudge against Rosenberg. Voyles assigns more agents to the case, noting how little evidence they have.

Runyan gathers the shocked and fatigued Justices in his office. Some of the Justices want to use their time to investigate the murders, but others disagree. Though everyone agrees that the likely perpetrators were rightwing organizations, they are unsure what they can do to bring the killers to justice and avenge their fallen “brethren” (58). Runyan recommends that they do nothing until after the funerals.

Darby studies the Supreme Court docket. She doubts Callahan’s insistence that a rightwing terror organization is behind the killings—their involvement seems too obvious. Callahan, deeply affected by the death of his hero Rosenberg, has cancelled classes for a week and has started drinking already. Darby continues her research, based on the idea that if the same group killed both men, the motive “was not hatred or revenge, but rather manipulation” (60) regarding some current or future case involving a great deal of money.

The FBI reviews everything they have. Voyles chooses Special Agent Eric East to lead the investigation. Voyles is pessimistic about finding the killer, so he advises East and the team to focus on whoever hired the assassin. Their suspects include Muncie, white supremacist groups, and eight other entities. A team of agents will investigate each suspect group, while a hundred other agents will scour the country for any further clues.

Darcy reads through all of Rosenberg’s opinions. Over the course of a storied and controversial legal career, he wrote more than a thousand. Jensen, in contrast, wrote only 28 and his opinions often lack consistency. Darcy can find nothing in Jensen’s career that makes him a credible threat to anyone.

Coal and the President draft a eulogy for Jensen. The two men have already disagreed over whether the President should attend the funeral “of a known homosexual” (64). Coal convinces the President that attending is too risky for his image, so they decide to send the Vice-President. However, Coal knows that the President needs to attend Rosenberg’s funeral, even if the President knows that he will not be able to stop smiling.

Callahan is still in mourning. The busy life of a working lawyer never suited him and he much prefers to teach law, especially as it allows him to indulge his vices: alcohol, women, and late mornings. He does not envy his more successful, richer friends. One of those friends is Gavin Verheek, who now works for the FBI. Callahan calls Verheek to confirm their meeting in a few days. On the phone, Callahan presses Verheek for information about the case, while Verheek jokes about Darby.

Darby continues her research in Lafayette. She goes to the local courtroom and convinces a clerk to give her access to the case files from a case that took place the previous summer. The appeal will be filed soon, so certain files are restricted to the public and cannot leave the offices. The defendant in the case spent a huge amount of money and won. Though the expensive lawyers will continue to work until every appeal is exhausted, one lawyer in the case reportedly committed suicide and another was killed.