bravelass85's review
4.0
This is my second book by Toobin and I really enjoy his writing style. I read this book in about two days on vacation and couldn't put it down. I appreciate his ability to bring in a lot of information without weighing the narrative down, and while it is definitely mass-market oriented, I feel like I am learning about the essential reasoning and effect behind Supreme Court decisions (even if I don't leave an expert on the topic after reading his books).
stumolan's review
4.0
Phenomenal analysis of the modern Supreme Court and its relationship to the Obama White House, similar to Bob Woodward's "The Brethren." The changing ways in which the Court is becoming even more politicized as compared to previous generations is important, as is the reality that the conservative block of the Court is engaged in a judicial activist regime.
devinpreads's review
2.0
A ton is almost word-for-word what he wrote in his previous book, if I didn't read them back to back it may not have been as much of a bother, but as a quarter of this book I read the day before, it's annoying
gracewiley's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
Not quite as good as The Nine, but still an interesting look at SCOTUS.
thrilled's review
2.0
sometimes i overdo things, take to extremes. like when i decided i should read both of toobin's supreme court books back to back. i loved the first and struggled to finish this one. maybe it was too much of a retread? or maybe i just don't care for the political climate of the past few years? maybe i need more distance between me and it? whatever the case, this was more boring than the bling ring.
nellybly's review
4.0
I love Jeffrey Toobin and I love the Supreme Court so I obviously enjoyed this very much.
annamolpus's review
3.0
This reads almost like a sequel to The Nine, and it's just as smart and interesting. Three stars for me because reading the law at work doesn't always put me in the mood to read about it at home too, but I would recommend this for anyone who enjoyed The Nine.
rick23's review
5.0
I want more. I don’t think I’ve ever realistically thought of law as being interesting. But this book and its predecessor are riveting.
This book, and “the nine“ Are a pair of books that have fundamentally changed the way I interpret the world. Outside of a few tomes of literature, I’m not sure I would say that about many books.
It’s got me driving around Texas thinking about constitutional law. It also has me being a pretentious doof referencing supreme court cases in casual conversations. I was on a zoom call with some friends, we got to talking about gun control after the shooting last week here in Austin. And while the opinions differ wildly, from “free guns for Jesus” to “Jesus was a pacifist you sick fuck” it came back to the constitutionality of the right to bear arms, and there is an interesting parallel between the limits on free speech and the ideas around gun control. You can’t yell fire in a theater, and so forth and so on. I never realized how differently you can interpret the same parts of the constitution. And how “out over our skis” we are on other parts.
The level of divisiveness around various constitutional interpretations is really astounding.
It’s also amazing how distant the supreme court seems, but how pervasive it can be in our day-to-day lives.
This book, and “the nine“ Are a pair of books that have fundamentally changed the way I interpret the world. Outside of a few tomes of literature, I’m not sure I would say that about many books.
It’s got me driving around Texas thinking about constitutional law. It also has me being a pretentious doof referencing supreme court cases in casual conversations. I was on a zoom call with some friends, we got to talking about gun control after the shooting last week here in Austin. And while the opinions differ wildly, from “free guns for Jesus” to “Jesus was a pacifist you sick fuck” it came back to the constitutionality of the right to bear arms, and there is an interesting parallel between the limits on free speech and the ideas around gun control. You can’t yell fire in a theater, and so forth and so on. I never realized how differently you can interpret the same parts of the constitution. And how “out over our skis” we are on other parts.
The level of divisiveness around various constitutional interpretations is really astounding.
It’s also amazing how distant the supreme court seems, but how pervasive it can be in our day-to-day lives.