Book Review: The Nine

I tend to pick up books to read in one of two way: either I pick them randomly off the shelf at a bookstore (rare, but it happens), or I hear about a book from more than one person.  I picked up my most recent book, The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin after a friend recommended it to me (thanks Shannon) and shortly there after, I happened to see the author speak at Brown while I was visiting Providence and my alma mater.  I found the stories of the personal habits, histories and ideologies of the justices to be fascinating and largely unknown to me, even as a law school student.

That said, no law degree is necessary to enjoy Toobin’s account of the changes and currents that have directed the Supreme Court over the last thirty years.  The arc of the book takes readers from the birth of the conservative movement in the 80s to the culmination of those efforts in the more conservative court assembled via “W”’s appointments; Roberts and Alito.  We are only beginning to see the effects of this sea change, and the results are already unsettling, at least from this reader’s view.  A must read for all voting Americans.