The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin

The subtitle of the book is "Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court", and that is more or less true for the Rehnquist court, which began in the 1980's and goes to Rehnquists death, and the book more or less ends with the beginning of the Robert's court (which will warrent a whole other book, it seems like.  That court was looking entirely predictable up until Roberts and the Affordable health Care Act decision, with Kennedy having returned to the conservative wing of the court, but with Obama re-elected and Roberts becoming a little less of a right wing Republican yes man, maybe it will one day make a real story).

I did not know, but that court was the longest running Supreme Court of all time--which speaks to several things.  One is that people are consistently living longer.  Another is that Souter is now an anomaly--a guy who leaves the court because he shuns Washington, politics, and power is just not all that common a guy these days.  Sadly, the book really doesn't shed any light on what makes him tick.  He was a mystery for me going into the book, and I emerged at the end none the wiser.

The main part of story here is Sandra Day O'Connor.  She essentially made all the important decisions for the better part of a decade--if she voted yes, it had a majority.  If she voted no, it went down to defeat--so wooing her became the task of the day.  The nice thing about that was that she wasn't a justice who hid her feelings.  She traveled widely and gave many speeches during those travels.  She asked questions from the bench and the things she asked informed what she was thinking and how she would vote.  The big mistake that Reagan made was underestimating just how much being female would influence her as a justice.  She was an Eisenhower Republican, not an antedeluvian conservative automaton.  I am eternally thankful for that.

But when O'Connor retired, knowing Rehnquist was dying and Bush was still president, she allowed an opening for the court to swing the other way--the last chapter of the book is on the beginning of the Roberts court, with it's complete lack of regard for precedent--not even mentioning it in their opinions.  Time will tell how Chief Justice Roberts will fare over the course of time--where as the Warren court was ahead of the public in terms of freedom, the Roberts court thus far seems to be behind the times.  We will see what this this year's decisions will hold.