New CBS drama heads to the Supreme Court

Joe Mantegna, Charles Durning and James Garner lead the cast of CBS's Supreme Court drama "First Monday."

By Thurston Hatcher
CNN

(CNN) -- You might figure Donald Bellisario would have welcomed the intense scrutiny the Supreme Court underwent during the presidential election standoff.

What better way, after all, to pique public interest in the TV drama he was developing about the inside workings of the institution?

In fact, the executive producer of CBS's "First Monday" was afraid the press would reveal a bit too much about the mysterious third branch.

"I've always wanted to be the Toto and pull the curtain aside and show the nine wizards," said Bellisario, who also created "JAG," "Magnum P.I." and "Quantum Leap."

RESOURCES Get news on the Supreme Court from CNN.com/LAW    ON TV 'First Monday' : 9 p.m. Tuesday, CBS

The curtain opens wide Tuesday night, but viewers also should not tune in expecting the inside scoop on how the current court functions or how, say, Ruth Bader Ginsburg gets along with Clarence Thomas.

"I have no desire to do a docudrama," Bellisario said. "A docudrama of the Supreme Court would be so boring no one would watch more than 10 minutes of it, so I take creative license. But at the same time I think the basics, the pillars of what goes on there, are there."

Insights into the judicial system

In real life, justices are more likely to communicate through memos rather than personal interaction. "First Monday" has justices chatting in the halls and the breakfast room.

Petitioners on the show sometimes sit beside their lawyers during oral arguments, which is not likely to happen at the U.S. Supreme Court.

And while it usually takes months for justices to issue their ruling, their TV counterparts wrap it up before the episode's over. The title of the show comes from the opening day of each court term, the first Monday in October.

Allan Ides, who was a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Byron White in 1980, is a law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, California, and a technical adviser on "First Monday."

Although he disagreed with some of the technically inaccurate elements, Ides suggests the fictionalized rendering -- the personal give-and-take, for example -- may help convey a greater truth about the court.

"Ultimately I think it kind of indirectly leads to an insight about the personal nature about the judicial system," he said. "That it's not all just hard and fast law, and that to a certain extent culture and personality play a role in those decisions. Bush versus Gore, for example."

Working to 'balance every issue'

The "First Monday" court consists of four conservatives, four liberals and a moderate (Joe Mantegna), who frequently casts the swing vote. James Garner is the staunchly conservative chief justice and Charles Durning plays his close ally.

Bellisario said the unlike NBC's "The West Wing" (he calls it "The Left Wing"), "First Monday" won't take sides on the issues it tackles, which will include abortion, three-strikes laws and the death penalty.

"I'm trying to do just the opposite with this show. I'm assiduously going out of my way to balance every issue," he said.

One source for that balance is "Curveball," the drama's recurring show-within-a-show that features opposing opinions from the likes of Jerry Falwell and Johnnie Cochran.

The host is Charles Bierbauer, a former CNN correspondent who covered the Supreme Court.

Bierbauer, who is also an adviser for the series, believes the show may provide valuable insight on legal issues and the court, which he suggests is not being covered adequately by the press.

"If no one in the news is going to take one-third of the federal government terribly seriously, maybe this is the best venue we've got," Bierbauer said.

"And if I can get two minutes of time to help illustrate what the concerns might be, maybe that's a fair tradeoff for the two minutes that the networks aren't giving it on their newscast."