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A review by jacktiggs
The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court by Bob Woodward, Scott Armstrong
5.0
Woodward in this book took on the quest of writing about the inner workings of the early Burger Court, which is around the early 1970's, and he succeeded in making one of the most interesting and readable books about the Court I've read. Okay, well, previously to The Brethren, I'd only read Toobin's works about the modern court, and while I enjoyed them, Woodward blows them out of the water.
First of all, while Woodward does appear to lean liberal, he is not as obviously biased as Toobin, as none of the Justices are particularly glorified, they all have their faults. From the power-hungry and incompetent Burger to the surprisingly somewhat lazy Marshall, they are all human. I loved the way Woodward was able to get behind the scenes to the political process of crafting opinions, and as someone with a budding interest in law I learned a lot about the backstories of important cases, like Roe v. Wade and US v. Nixon. Perhaps the most surprising part of this book was the humor throughout, mostly from the young clerks running about. In particular, the obscenity cases and the baseball anti-trust brought some laughs.
Overall, a great book for anyone interested in the law. I just wish Woodward continued publishing term summaries into one giant book from the 70's to now.
First of all, while Woodward does appear to lean liberal, he is not as obviously biased as Toobin, as none of the Justices are particularly glorified, they all have their faults. From the power-hungry and incompetent Burger to the surprisingly somewhat lazy Marshall, they are all human. I loved the way Woodward was able to get behind the scenes to the political process of crafting opinions, and as someone with a budding interest in law I learned a lot about the backstories of important cases, like Roe v. Wade and US v. Nixon. Perhaps the most surprising part of this book was the humor throughout, mostly from the young clerks running about. In particular, the obscenity cases and the baseball anti-trust brought some laughs.
Overall, a great book for anyone interested in the law. I just wish Woodward continued publishing term summaries into one giant book from the 70's to now.