Review

Title: Deep Conviction
Author: Steven T. Collis
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Genre: Religion & Spirituality
Year Published: 2019
Number of Pages: 369
ISBN13: 978-1-62972-553-6
Price: $24.99 (hardcover)

Reviewed by Elizabeth White for the Association for Mormon Letters

I like good stories. I like to read about courageous men and women. I like to learn about American history and the shaping of our country. So, when I picked up “Deepest Conviction”, the second book by University of Denver adjunct law professor Steven T. Collis, I was expecting to read about a few ordinary Americans who made extraordinary choices (because that is what it says on the front cover). I expected an interesting account with unknown trivia bits and not much more. I did not expect to cry, to laugh out loud, to feel waves of nausea and dread as emotions come to the surface as I walk alongside Collis as he shares the journeys these several select people have walked.

Talking about court cases could have been an excessively dry and unpopular topic but Collis adds to the legal explanation the personal side and the book comes alive. The cases revolve around normal people doing normal things: a Catholic priest trying to help his parishioner make better choices, an atheist veteran who is seeking a better way to provide for his family, a Klamath tribe member who wants to worship with his family and friends as it gives him strength to embrace sobriety, and a Christian man who wants his life to bring honor and praise to his God. Simple ordinary men who have simple ordinary desires. Collis engages the readers by skillfully and compassionately weaving the life threads of different players on both sides of the conflicts, as well as the judges, justices, and other governmental administrators with their perspectives, questions, strengths and weaknesses into a narrative showcasing real people with real struggles behind landmark decisions that have established the religious freedom have today.

Collis uses his expertise as an attorney to explain in simple, understandable language what legal terms and processes mean, just as if he were briefing the reader as his client on what to expect at a hearing or at a trial. All of these cases have moments of high drama, but Collis does not exaggerate it into melodrama by drawing caricatures. The reader will not see the bad guy showing up in a black cape and twisting his mustache. All of the people are real, with real concerns, trying to make the best decisions, without the benefit of hindsight. Collis, as an attorney, needs to be able to read people and uncover their motivations so that he knows which questions to ask witnesses and which points to clarify for judges. He uses this insightfulness to his advantage to show how different characters act and react in the stories. He points out what people excel at as well as missed opportunities that could have altered results.

Another strength of the book in found in the notes sections that follow each chapter. Collis cites personal author interviews with those who played parts in the stories, from Justice Scalia to the children of the families who made these cases their lives. Getting personal insights from those who have lived these cases adds a profound depth to the genuineness of this book.

Also in his chapter notes I notice a newspaper headline which gives the outcome of the particular trial, so with that spoiler easing the anxiety I am encountering, I could finish reading the chapter, knowing how the case is decided.

I also see this book as a cautionary tale. Each of these court cases is undertaken after serious, considered deliberation and each of the principals needs to have a rock solid reason why they are willing to see their fight through to the end. Otherwise, they simply will not survive the process. Collis makes it very clear that litigation is not a pretty business, that it consumes people’s lives at staggering personal costs and, many times, results in irreparable losses. The quickest case comes to resolution in about two years; the others linger on and on, draining the vitality of the players. At some point, each of the characters comes to say they are no longer pursuing their suits simply to vindicate their own point of view, but they each come to realize they need to fight, and perhaps lose, so that others who follow them might have the protections that they have been denied. What is running through each of these four men is a steel core of unwavering personal integrity which cannot allow conduct contrary to the essence of who they are, no matter what the consequences.

At the crux of each of these cases is the question that, though the government and the Constitution can and does mandate what and how we can do certain things (peacefully assemble, bear arms, vote, pay taxes), does it have the right to dictate what we believe and who we are as people? It is a qualitative question: can the government control what I believe, or do I have the right of self-determination and will the government recognize and protect that right? Maybe that is what the authors of the Declaration of Independence meant by the pursuit of happiness.

I usually do not discuss books I read with others as a matter of course, but I find that I am seeking others out to share from this book and compare viewpoints. There is so much valuable information in this volume that I want to process it with someone else. It would be very valuable if, at some point, book group questions could be posted online, for adult and high school age book clubs and American history classes. I could see book groups wanting to gather and discuss the different cases and what was gained and lost in each one. I could also see speech and debate classes taking on different sides of the questions without knowing the outcomes first.

This is a very crucial topic for our country and I am enlightened in my perspectives from reading this book. Thank you, Mr. Collis, for your research, your personal interviews, doing your homework, doing your legwork, the long hours of reading, writing and revising, and using your ability to interpret ghastly courtroom proceedings into something understandable and relevant so ordinary people can understand what extraordinary freedoms have been given to us, with the view that perhaps we can continue to maintain and cultivate them.