Toobin reveals the fundamental issue conservatives, like The 700 Club founder Pat Robertson and attorney Jay Sekulow, founders of the American Center for Law and Justice, realized in the 1980s about the Supreme Court and the cases they lost: “they didn’t need better arguments; they just needed new justices.” This point is reinforced by Justice William Brennan, who is noted for asking his law clerks “What’s the most important law at the Supreme Court?” The answer is the law of five. With the current Roberts Court, conservatives feel like they have made some headway.
The book covers recent high-profile actions involving the Court, such as Clinton’s impeachment, the 2000 Presidential Election (with Toobin citing reasons why he felt the Court should not have gotten involved), and why conservatives didn’t want Gonzales or Meirs on the bench, exposing the hypocritical nature of politics because “the exact same people who were complaining about the denial of votes to Bush’s other judicial nominees were mobilizing to deny just such a vote to” Miers.
In hardcover, The Nine was on The New York Times Bestseller List for four months and was recognized as a Best Book of 2007 by Slate, The Economist, Time, Newsweek, and Fortune. It also received the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, which is awarded to books that have “literary grace, a commitment to serious research and social concern.” The paperback offers up an afterword that briefly covers the 2007-2008 term.
Toobin used many resources to create this book. The most essential being interviews with the justices and more than 75 law clerks, which were granted on a not-for-attribution basis. He is a very good writer, taking what could be lengthy, boring passages of law and history and making them accessible, compelling reading. I highly recommend this, especially to Americans who have a vested interest in the workings of the Court whether they are aware of it or not.
Article comments