The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court | 
 enlarge | Author: Jeffrey Toobin
Publisher: Doubleday
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  141 reviews
Sales Rank: 499
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.3
ISBN: 0385516401
Dewey Decimal Number: 347.7326
EAN: 9780385516402
ASIN: 0385516401
Publication Date: September 18, 2007
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Product Description
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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| Customer Reviews: Read 136 more reviews...
good, fast read July 24, 2008
Toobin's book provides an interesting perspective on the personalities at play in the Supreme Court, while also providing a window into some of the countries most influential cases. The book is balanced in its approach. His focus is primarily on more recent justices, starting with the Rehnquist court.
I found his description of Souter to be among most interesting and comical due to Souters unique personality. Toobin writes, "At first Souters eccentricities drew more notice around the court than his jurisprudence. Fifty-two years old and a lifelong bachelor, he has the habits of a gentleman from another country...He ate the same thing for lunch every day: an entire apple, including the core and seeds, with a cup of yogurt. When the justices sat together in their dining room, the two items would be delivered to Souter on the same fine china that served his colleagues; Souter was familiar with Coca Cola, but he had never heard of a beverage that several of the others justices favored - Diet Coke" (p. 43)
He goes on to describe a successful date Souter had with a woman that Justice O'Connor set him up with. "She thought the evening had gone very well - until the end. Souter took her home, told her what a good time he had, then added 'Let's do this again next year'" (p. 244)
 Very knowledgeable but too one sided July 21, 2008
While I have admired Mr. Toobin, I found the text to be very unbalanced. I actually listened to the audio version of the book and I don't know if that had a big impact on how I "heard" the book or not. But there is a troubling slant against the more "conservative" judges. At times, it really seems very hostile (especially to Thomas and Scalia). I do not say this because I always subscript to the justices I just named (often times I don't.) I realize that an author approaches his work with a certain frame of mind, but it made the book much less credible for me. I enjoyed the portions on O'Connor and Breyer but again, I would have preferred a more balanced view of the court.
The Nine July 16, 2008
Anyone who watches much cable news is familiar with Jeffery Toobin. As the chief legal analyst for CNN, and a frequent guest on other networks, Toobin is one of the experts who provide commentary on crime, trials, and other aspects of the law. He has written books about O.J., the Clinton Impeachment, and the 2000 Recount, and now turns his skills to the modern Supreme Court. There are other books about the Rehnquist-era court, but this one is probably the most accessible for the layman. Toobin is not a particularly lively writer, but he produces an easy to follow profile of the justices and some of their more important decisions, and the politics behind their appointments. Worth mentioning are his chapters dealing with the Thomas nomination, the daily life of the justices and the effects international law can have on their opinions. As a lawyer, he can provide more insight than the average journalist, and he certainly has a gift for putting legal jargon into terms the general public can understand. No doubt critics will accuse him of `dumbing down' the material, but they cannot argue with the result: a sympathetic, honest, and readable history of the Court during the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
 The Nine July 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a fascinating, thought-provoking book which should be required reading for any civics or political science student. Toobin provides an insightful look into the selection of justices as well as their evolution once on the bench. He has clearly done his homework in researching the backgrounds, selection process, politics, and personalities of the nine decision makers we call our Supreme Court. Highly recommended!
Good, and Should've Been Better July 3, 2008
There are several things about The Nine that make it an absorbing and worthwhile read. As stated in the dust jacket, Jeffrey Toobin has great narrative skills. He shows them in abundance when giving us memorable portraits of each justice. Furthermore, he does an outstanding job summarizing the most important Supreme Court cases from 2000 onward; and distilling the complex issues that each case presents re: abortion, affirmative action, free speech, separation of church and state, federalism, the death penalty, and habeas corpus etc. In these respects, it is an ideal resource for the casual follower of the Supreme Court.
However, I am a paralegal well-versed in legal research, and am fascinated by the Supreme Court. I expected much more from the book, but was greatly disappointed with several omissions. First, Toobin did not offer citations to any of the cases he summarized so well(from Bush v. Gore to Rasul v. Bush, or the Kelo case re: eminent domain). Maybe it was an editorial decision by the publisher not to list the citations; and if true, I would've appreciated knowing this at the outset. To list a case without giving its citation is an unforgivable omission for anyone familiar with how legal research is done. It made the book seem more shallow than I'm sure Toobin intended. Toobin's defense(at the end of the book) that these cases are readily available online is just not good enough. I also would've appreciated a much fuller discussion by Toobin of how and why the Justices have(since the Warren Court era) increasingly allowed political considerations to guide their jurisprudence rather than legal ones.
I have equally strong misgivings about Toobin's approach to the book.
Yes, he is a fairly high-profile legal analyst for CNN; and writes prominently on legal issues for the New Yorker Magazine. These facts alone, however, don't tell us what motivated him to write this book.
The dust jacket tells us that he was born to write this book. How so?
What goals did he set for the book? He didn't say. The book is touted as providing a valauble look inside the Supreme Court; and in some ways, he succeeds. For example, he gives a valuable overview of the Rasul, and Hamdan cases, two outgrowths of the Bush Administration's war on terror. However, Toobin largely had to rely on the information the Justices, and other Supreme Court experts were willing to provide him.
What did Toobin himself bring to the table to advance the goals of his book, other than admirable enthusiasm? Unfortunately, we are not told. He is a journalist, but has given us no idea of how he became one, and has not told us about his legal background(i.e., Has he been to law school?;
Is he an attorney?)
Having answers to these questions could've at least in part explained why he did not offer at least one case citations for people who just might want to do further(more in depth) reading. If he didn't want his book to be a scholarly appraisal of the Supreme Court, Toobin should have told us so beforehand in an introduction. Again, The Nine is quite a good book, as far as it goes. It could have been, and should have been so much better.
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