Jeffrey Toobin's The Nine is an inside look at the US Supreme Court. Toobin takes a careful look at the justices and the decisions that have shaped the court over the past ten or so years. He goes back to the impeachment proceedings against Clinton, looks at the Court's inner deliberations and dynamics in the Bush v. Gore decision, and looks at how the personalities and philosophies have molded the decisions coming out of the high court.
Toobin looks at each justice individually, starting with their rise to the court and also detailing their time on the court and their legal logic. Toobin then takes his account up through the stability of the Rehnquist court (which he says should better be called the O'Connor court because of her status as the perpetual swing vote deciding many of the most important cases) to the two new justices confirmed during the (George W.) Bush presidency.
Toobin's book is a great read, and makes a great primer for what the Supreme Court is all about and what decisions have been landmarks over the past decades. He has chronicled the liberalizing tendencies of the court through the nineties and into the new millenium, and the new conservative shift with the appointments of Roberts and Alito. The book is a good occasion to reflect on judicial philosophy, and certainly made me rethink how the decisions of the supreme court impact our daily lives. I highly recommend this book, and hope you enjoy it as I did.
No comments:
Post a Comment