NINE INSIDE THE SECRET WORLD OF THE SUPR

The book is very good, as it gives an insight of the Supreme Court politics. Some parts of the text could be a little more concise, but it is overall very well written.

Libro intenso ed interessante, per me sta diventando motivo di approfondimento della lingua inglese. Trovo che sia un peccato la mancata traduzione in italiano di questo volume, a me avrebbe fatto senz'altro comodo. O magari esiste tradotto e non lo ho trovato io, non saprei. In ogni caso lo consiglio per chi ha dimestichezza con l'inglese e per chi vuole intraprendere un viaggio non solo nella Corte Suprema americana ma anche nelle vite dei Giudici che la compongono. Un racconto a tratti divertente, capace di far spuntare un sorriso in chi lo legge.

x-mas present, son found book interesting. K

Absolutely brilliant book - couldn't put it down. The author manages to draw you in with tidbits from court life and also, at crucial points, gives you backstory to the justice's that in context explain their court decisions well.The book itself isn't just full of the decisions either; it runs over maybe a dozen of the most important over a period of years but does so without being stuffy or boring: a must read for anyone interested in the Supreme Court.

This book is a page-turner, not just for political junkies like meor even lawyers interested in what goes on with the "Supremes". It'sa great study of personalities and professional ethics in law and politics.Toobin is a brilliant writer. I've read several books by him.I even read his book about the O.J. Simpson case. Occasionally,I feel sorry for him when on CNN they ask him to comment onstuff like Britney Spears and O.J.'s latest adventure. Herehe is discussing much more important things and strikes a perfectbalance such that non-lawyers can enjoy this work even if they maynot understand some of the legal issues as well as we lawyers can.This is by far the best book ever written on the Supreme Court.More importantly, Toobin has warned us that if the GOPwins in 2008, we may be able to keep our guns--until some "national security" crisis comes up--but you can forget about the rest of theBill of Rights. Some of you may have noticed that theFourth Amendment is already pretty much gone. TheRepublicans are now arguing that measures to restoreit are part of a "far-left agenda".The general thesis of the book is that there is areally tenuous situation now. The vast majorityof Supreme Court nominees in the last forty yearshave been Republicans, yet most of the Warren Court"liberal" decisions are hanging on--barely.What is really remarkable is when you realizethat the only "liberal" Justices since Nixonput Rehnquist, Powell, Burger, and Blackmun onthe high court are the Clinton appointees Ginzburgand Breyer. Yet the "liberal" rulings on civilrights are still with us. They won't be much longer ifthe GOP wins in 2008.It's not a major theme of the book, but Toobin's analysisof Souter is most interesting. He places Souter in thetradition of Harlan II, particularly on the issue of"unenumerated rights", something I have argued aboutextensively on the internet.To put it succinctly, when the framers were draftingthe Constitution, there was an argument about theBill of Rights. Some said that by enumerating specificrights, the Constitution might be read as granting onlythose rights to states or to individuals.So to guard against that argument, the Ninth Amendmentwas added. The gist is that rights do not derive fromgovernment and that by enumerating specific rights,the Constitution does not mean that other rights donot exist. It's pretty clear, but it has not been widelyaccepted. Most of today's so-called "conservatives" argue thatthe only rights we have are those that are "granted"by the Constitution. This is totally antithetical tothe intent of the framers.Today, though most of the Republican candidates arelawyers, including Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney, and RudyGuiliani, the prevailing view of the so-called "conservatives"seems to be that you only have the rights that are explicitlygranted by the Constitution. Toobin rightly predicts thatthe right to privacy will disappear if there are one or twomore justices like Roberts and Alito.After Bush v. Gore, Souter apparently was so disgustedthat he considered resigning. Had he done so, one of thelandmark decisions of the past few years, Lawrence v. Texas,might have gone the other way. And that decision, which builton the privacy rights of Roe v. Wade to overturn laws againstprivate sexual conduct, is in real danger just as abortion rights are.I cannot recommend this book highly enough, particularly forlaw students and lawyers. I started reading it late at nightand just could not put it down.To those who complain about Toobin's "liberal" bent, I say "rubbish".He is sympathetic to all the human qualities of the nine justices andexplains the way the court works from that perspective.He could easily have concentrated on a point that he makesvery subtly--it's the so-called "conservatives" on the courtthat are the truly "activist judges".