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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 347.7326
EAN: 9781400096794
ISBN: 1400096790
Label: Anchor
Manufacturer: Anchor
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 480
Publication Date: September 09, 2008
Publisher: Anchor
Release Date: September 09, 2008
Sales Rank: 223
Studio: Anchor
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Product Description:
In The Nine, acclaimed journalist Jeffrey Toobin takes us into the chambers of the most important—and secret—legal body in our country, the Supreme Court, revealing the complex dynamic among the nine people who decide the law of the land. An institution at a moment of transition, the Court now stands at a crucial point, with major changes in store on such issues as abortion, civil rights, and church-state relations. Based on exclusive interviews with the justices and with a keen sense of the Court’s history and the trajectory of its future, Jeffrey Toobin creates in The Nine a riveting story of one of the most important forces in American life today.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - thank you for the book
i sent the book to a friend who is in prison and he received it promptly and is enjoyin it very much.
Rating:  - A Cynical View of the Court as "Politics by Other Means"
This is a reprise of Woodward's 1970s study of the Burger Court, including the use of law clerk interviews to ferret out interesting bits of gossip and inside information on the highly secretive workings of the Court. Woodward was a bit more skilled at getting better gossip, though Toobin's efforts are worthwhile.
Toobin's vignettes as to the personal styles and influence of O'Connor, Breyer, and Kennedy are quite interesting. Of more substance is the portrayal of Rehnquist's administrative skills and the era of consensus and good feeling he brought to the Court.
Toobin's thesis, though, is that this consensus is at war with the far right's struggle to take over the Court and to push it to reverse Roe v. Wade, cut back on national power vis a vis the States, and (somewhat inconsistently)strenghten the national executive power. He persuasively shows the efforts by the far right to groom and select predictably conservative judges.
I'm not entirely convinced that Chief Justice Roberts falls in this category, despite Toobin's arguments to the contrary. Roberts seems to promote consensus and seems to possess a great deal of intellectual curiousity and integrity, which would tend to defy any ability to ensure and predict his vote in any one particular case.
The chapter on Bush v. Gore is disappointing and buys into the popular dismissal of the ruling as the result of 5 purely partisan votes. Political partisanship on any court is, of course, ... Read More
Rating: - Sequel to The Brethren
Who the intended audience is is unclear. The gossipy, behind-the-scenes stuff is entertaining for awhile. But lawyers are already clear-eyed, if not cynical, about the judiciary, and the general public is smart enough to know that the Supreme Court is no less suffused with politics and personal biases than any other branch of public service. So the "Can-you-believe-Supreme-Court-justices-can-be-that-whimsical-and-prejudiced?" theme of the book won't shock anyone. Only a Supreme Court junkie would truly enjoy the synopses of the cases argued and decided. But the junkies would find Toobin's explanations - and the selection of the cases he chooses to explain - too facile. The general public would find them dull.
Toobin leans left, but no more or less than one would expect from a New Yorker magazine writer and CNN commentator. He wants to leave the impression that Armageddon is on the horizon with Roberts and Alito now on the bench, but he's not very convincing. Toobin favors justices like O'Connor and Breyer, who he believes are pragmatic in their decision making. Toobin's writing about O'Connor is over the top. Toobin goes so far as to say that the "undue burden standard" of abortion laws was the area in which O'Connor "singlehandedly remade the law in the most controversial area of Supreme Court jurisprudence... No other woman in United States history, and very few men, made such an enormous impact on their country." (P. 310.) Can sainthood be far behind?
Rating: - Humanizing the intricate process of the highest court
This was an educational, yet easy and fun book to read about many interesting facts about the history and current issues of the court. To learn about the system that constantly changes, and is often subject to luck, human frailties, and personalities, and yet has manintained the balance most of the time is both frightening and comforting. In the end, I found all of the justices, and even the ones that I have never respected, quite remarkable in their own ways of doing their duties. The intellectual maturity and integrity of (some) justices to work collaboratively through their differences for the common good, certainly made me appreciate their services.
Rating: - An Intimate Look Inside the Most Exclusive Enclave in America
As only Jeffrey Toobin can do, he paints a deep and rich picture of the inner sanctum of the Supreme Court.
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