The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court

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.

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.

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!

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.

Awesome. An easy and fast read. The book rewards you with a perspective on the politics behind the Court for about the past two decades. A great indtroduction for young readers.

Conservatives are just upset that their goals and momentum have been exposed and possibly thwarted to some extent by the release of this widely-read book before the extremely important presidential election of '08.