Excellent, for Court expert AND novice

books:


	• The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court Jeffrey Toobin Doubleday, 2007 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 135 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Nine

The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court
Jeffrey Toobin is unquestionably the finest writer and most cogent commentator on the American legal scene today. His book, "The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court," is a marvelous read for layman and lawyer alike.
Unlike Bob Woodward's "The Brethren" Toobin layers the self-revelatory comments of the justices with a lawyer's penetrating sense of nuance and a comprehensive articulation of the role of the third branch of our government.
Toobin writes with such grace and refinement it's difficult to believe that he was once a real lawyer!
It probably should not be a surprise that Toobin has added political commentary on CNN to his body of prose. In the punditry bloated world of cable presidential campaign coverage he has added wit, a sly smile and abundant common sense.

Philip S. Ryan
Attorney/Author

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Excellent, for Court expert AND novice

Jeffery Toobin's The Nine is a fantastic book. Not too long and well written. Without overwhelming those of us who are not lawyers or SCOTUS watchers, Toobin conveyed the importance of the work the Justices do. The reader learns about the Justices, their personalities, and their beliefs. Also, as Toobin book focuses mostly on the 1990s and 2000s, one learns a lot about the important Supreme Court cases during those two decades. Finally, and most importantly, after finishing The Nine it is obvious to all how tethered the Justices really are to the politics of the day, some (O'Connor and Kennedy) more than others. That is, Toobin notes, as it should be in a democracy. A great book to jump into an important area of US government even if you don't have any expertise in that area.
A final note: Toobin clearly leans a bit to the left, and that is detectable in the book. But I still felt that he was fair enough for the book to be educational for any and all. Conservatives have told me so anyway.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Bestselling author Jeffrey Toobin takes you into the chambers of the most important?and secret?legal body in our country, the Supreme Court, and reveals the complex dynamic among the nine people who decide the law of the land.

Just in time for the 2008 presidential election?where the future of the Court will be at stake?Toobin reveals an institution at a moment of transition, when decades of conservative disgust with the Court have finally produced a conservative majority, with major changes in store on such issues as abortion, civil rights, presidential power, and church-state relations.

Based on exclusive interviews with justices themselves, The Nine tells the story of the Court through personalities?from Anthony Kennedy's overwhelming sense of self-importance to Clarence Thomas's well-tended grievances against his critics to David Souter's odd nineteenth-century lifestyle. There is also, for the first time, the full behind-the-scenes story of Bush v. Gore?and Sandra Day O'Connor's fateful breach with George W. Bush, the president she helped place in office.

The Nine is the book bestselling author Jeffrey Toobin was born to write. A CNN senior legal analyst and New Yorker staff writer, no one is more superbly qualified to profile the nine justices.

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