Short description
Bestselling author Toobin takes readers into the chambers of the most important--and secret--legal body in the country, the Supreme Court, and reveals the complex dynamic among the nine people who decide the law of the land.
Long 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.
Review
Compelling. . . . Driven by the author's assured narrative voice, The Nine is as informative as it is fascinating, as insightful as it is readable.
--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
Smart and entertaining. . . . The Nine is engaging, erudite, candid, and accessible, often hard to put down. Toobin is a natural storyteller, and the stories he tells are gripping.
-- The New York Times Book Review
Toobin's sparkling new work is anecdotally rich and clearly written. . . . A testimony to [his] skill.
-- USA Today
Intelligent and even-handed. . . . Toobin's access to the Supremes and their secret little world is phenomenal.
-- Chicago Sun-Times
The Nine not only provides a vivid narrative history of the Court's recent history, but also gives the reader an intimate look at individual justices, showing how personality, judicial philosophy and personal alliances can inform decisions that have huge consequences for the entire country. . . . Driven by the author's assured narrative voice, The Nine is as informative as it is fascinating, as insightful as it is readable.
--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
Every decade or so, an enterprising and intelligent outsider like Toobin can come along and shine a muchneeded spotlight on the place. . . . The Nine is engaging, erudite, candid and accessible, often hard to put down. Toobin is a natural storyteller, and the stories he tells are gripping. . . . [He] writes about the court more fluidly and fluently than anyone.
--David Margolick, The New York Times Book Review
The Nine is the latest, and by far the best [book] . . . about the Supreme Court.
--Nina Totenberg, NPR
This is a remarkable, riveting book. So great are Toobin's narrative skills that both the justices and their inner world are brought vividly to life.
--Doris Kearns Goodwin
[An] absorbing group profile. . . . [Toobin] deftly distills the issues and enlivens his narrative of the Court's internal wranglings with sharp thumbnail sketches
-- Publishers Weekly
A compelling look at the power and the politics behind the Supreme Court.
-- Booklist
A major achievement, lucid and probing.
--Bob Woodward