The Nine

Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court

By: Jeffrey Toobin

Narrated by: Don Leslie

Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Best-selling author Jeffrey Toobin takes you into the chambers of 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 the 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 19th 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 Toobin was born to write. He is a best-selling author, a CNN senior legal analyst, and New Yorker staff writer. No one is more superbly qualified to profile the nine justices.

©2007 Jeffrey Toobin (P)2007 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"A major achievement, lucid and probing." (Bob Woodward)

"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)

"Absorbing....[Toobin's] savvy account puts the supposedly cloistered Court right in the thick of American life." (Publishers Weekly)

5 stars for leftys, 4 for others

If you are interested in politics and the court, this book is pretty darn interesting. Toobin is quite liberal, and writes from that point of view. As long as you can accept that, he writes a good tale, and you learn a lot about what drives the justices, albeit from his very left-leaning view of piety.

My biggest complaint is the author's omissions of important parts of arguments, for example, the whole Bush v Gore election. He totally glosses over the strident incompetence of the Florida Supreme Court. Only if you were a news junky at the time would you have the proper context to understand the whole story. He leaves out many details that don't comport with his liberal views; but, I guess we all do that some. Overall, very good book.

Excellent insight for anyone interested in how the court works

Any future, current, or recent law student—and perhaps any lawyer—should read or listen to this title. Its excellent narrative on the Rehnquist and early Roberts Courts offer important insight into how the Court arrived at its most important decisions of the last forty years, and let readers understand the justices (especially of the Rehnquist Court) better than is possible from the mere reading of their opinions.

Supreme Court as a political institution

I bought this book several years ago and never got around to reading it. I finally had the opportunity to listen to it as an audiobook. The reader was quite good and the premise of the author that the Supreme Court is a highly politicized institution where the make up of the court and the ideology of its members is the most important factor in decision-making is still as valid today as it was when the book was first written.I especially enjoyed the vignettes of each of the court's members and the concise but accurate synopsis of the court's major cases during this period.

Fascinating!

Thank you Mr. Toobin, Mr. Leslie,
and the entire Audible team 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Five stars for all!

Interesting but biased

While I enjoy the SCOTUS and it’s history a great deal, and certainly learned a good amount from this book, the author’s liberal bias is crystal clear as he tells the story of the court. If you’re looking for a book that will give an evenhanded assessment of the court and it’s justices, this is not the book for you.

Enlightening

After just writing my Masters thesis on the worldview of the Rehnquist Court, I have to say that this book is not only accurate, but highly entertaining and depicts the true nature of the Supreme Court. The insight Toobin gains into the inner workings of the Court is amazing.

Excellent

The Nine was a very enjoyable listen. Jeffrey Toobin makes the Supreme Court accessible and shows both the best and the worst of the court and its justices. Don Leslie does a tremendous job with the narration.

Good not great

A overview of the justices through history and cases and their ideology. A decent read.

An entertaining peek behind the red curtain

Any additional comments?

A fascinating look into the inner workings of the Supreme Court. Lots of interesting tidbits about the court, its justices, and how their personalities and politics influence their decisions. Toobin focuses mainly on the justices serving in the 1980's through the appointment of John Roberts as Chief Justice. For casual watchers of the court you will find lots to like - equal parts analysis of some of the more important decisions over the past 30 years, biography, and insider anecdotes - all told within the context of shifting political trends. I found it all very entertaining and informative but those interested in the history of the court or in depth legal analysis of landmark rulings should look elsewhere.

Objectivity is dead in America

It is sad that an otherwise very talented writer could not get past his own ego and ideology to make this book great. Just because one disagrees with originalism does not make Scalia a monster. Just because one disagrees with an expansive view of the constitution does not make liberal justices bad. The animosity described in this book simply does not a basis in facts. A liberal court in Florida has no more right to select the president of the United States than a so called conservative Supreme Court. The reasoning in this book for Bush v Gore is simplistic and clearly influenced by the author’s own Ideology. If the author wanted to write an anti Bush book he should have done so and not dragged SCOTUS into it. The saddest part is that our dialogue in this country has devolved into a professional wrestling style verbal match. We deserve better than that.