Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight

When Ali was drafted into the Vietnam War at the height of his boxing career, his claim to conscientious objector status on religious grounds led to a lengthy legal battle that rattled the U.S. judicial system right up to the highest court. He was one of boxing's all-time greats, but Muhammad Ali's biggest challenge took place far from the ring – in the offices of the United States Supreme Court, where nine justices debated the legitimacy of his 1971 conscientious-objector appeal. Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight goes behind closed doors as the justices – Chief Justice Warren Burger, Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, John Harlan II, William Brennan, Jr., Potter Stewart, Byron "Whizzer" White, Thurgood Marshall and Harry Blackmun – decide the outcome of Ali's landmark appeal. In particular, Harlan finds himself at odds with the status quo – and his old friend Burger – after his perspective is challenged by his new clerk, Kevin Connolly. The film explores the intricate politics behind these historic decisions in a time of rapid social and cultural transformation in the American landscape. (officiële tekst van distribiteur)