The Nine

Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court

By: Jeffrey Toobin

Narrated by: Don Leslie

Best-selling author Jeffrey Toobin takes you into the chambers of the Supreme Court and reveals the complex dynamic among the nine people who decide the law of the land. Just in time for the 2008 presidential election - where the future of the Court will be at stake - Toobin reveals an institution at a moment of transition, when decades of conservative disgust with the Court have finally produced a conservative majority, with major changes in store on such issues as abortion, civil rights, presidential power, and church-state relations.

Based on exclusive interviews with the justices themselves, The Nine tells the story of the Court through personalities - from Anthony Kennedy’s overwhelming sense of self-importance to Clarence Thomas’s well-tended grievances against his critics to David Souter’s odd 19th century lifestyle. There is also, for the first time, the full behind-the-scenes story of Bush v. Gore - and Sandra Day O’Connor’s fateful breach with George W. Bush, the president she helped place in office.

The Nine is the book Toobin was born to write. He is a best-selling author, a CNN senior legal analyst, and New Yorker staff writer. No one is more superbly qualified to profile the nine justices.

©2007 Jeffrey Toobin (P)2007 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

Winner - J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, 2008

“The Nine not only provides a vivid narrative history of the Court's recent history, but also gives the reader an intimate look at individual justices, showing how personality, judicial philosophy and personal alliances can inform decisions that have huge consequences for the entire country. . . . Driven by the author's assured narrative voice, The Nine is as informative as it is fascinating, as insightful as it is readable.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

“Toobin’s sparkling new work is anecdotally rich and clearly written. . . . A testimony to [his] skill.” —USA Today“Intelligent and even-handed. . . . Toobin’s access to the Supremes and their secret little world is phenomenal.”—Chicago Sun-Times

“The Nine is the latest, and by far the best [book] . . . about the Supreme Court.” —Nina Totenberg, NPR

“[An] absorbing group profile. . . . [Toobin] deftly distills the issues and enlivens his narrative of the Court's internal wranglings with sharp thumbnail sketches”—Publishers Weekly

5 stars for leftys, 4 for others

If you are interested in politics and the court, this book is pretty darn interesting. Toobin is quite liberal, and writes from that point of view. As long as you can accept that, he writes a good tale, and you learn a lot about what drives the justices, albeit from his very left-leaning view of piety.

My biggest complaint is the author's omissions of important parts of arguments, for example, the whole Bush v Gore election. He totally glosses over the strident incompetence of the Florida Supreme Court. Only if you were a news junky at the time would you have the proper context to understand the whole story. He leaves out many details that don't comport with his liberal views; but, I guess we all do that some. Overall, very good book.

Excellent insight for anyone interested in how the court works

Any future, current, or recent law student—and perhaps any lawyer—should read or listen to this title. Its excellent narrative on the Rehnquist and early Roberts Courts offer important insight into how the Court arrived at its most important decisions of the last forty years, and let readers understand the justices (especially of the Rehnquist Court) better than is possible from the mere reading of their opinions.

Supreme Court as a political institution

I bought this book several years ago and never got around to reading it. I finally had the opportunity to listen to it as an audiobook. The reader was quite good and the premise of the author that the Supreme Court is a highly politicized institution where the make up of the court and the ideology of its members is the most important factor in decision-making is still as valid today as it was when the book was first written.I especially enjoyed the vignettes of each of the court's members and the concise but accurate synopsis of the court's major cases during this period.

Fascinating!

Thank you Mr. Toobin, Mr. Leslie,
and the entire Audible team 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Five stars for all!

Interesting but biased

While I enjoy the SCOTUS and it’s history a great deal, and certainly learned a good amount from this book, the author’s liberal bias is crystal clear as he tells the story of the court. If you’re looking for a book that will give an evenhanded assessment of the court and it’s justices, this is not the book for you.

Enlightening

After just writing my Masters thesis on the worldview of the Rehnquist Court, I have to say that this book is not only accurate, but highly entertaining and depicts the true nature of the Supreme Court. The insight Toobin gains into the inner workings of the Court is amazing.

Excellent

The Nine was a very enjoyable listen. Jeffrey Toobin makes the Supreme Court accessible and shows both the best and the worst of the court and its justices. Don Leslie does a tremendous job with the narration.

Good not great

A overview of the justices through history and cases and their ideology. A decent read.

Pulp Jurisdiction

The Nine is written as a travelogue of the recent to not so recent history of this esteemed panel. It has many interesting facts and anecdotes concerning an 'inside baseball' perspective of the court. The average listener to this type of book however is probably more interested in a more academic approach to the subject. It is not that this title is not enjoyable, much to the contrary, I was quite engaged all the way through...It's just that when I got to the end I wasn't sure that I understood the court any better than I had before listening. What I was hoping for was how the cases were presented to the Justices and how they interpreted the Constitution in their findings. Fortunately Audible has actual Supreme Court hearings downloadable for free...This I found more informative, if a bit less entertaining.

a must read

An excellent and scary view of what has happened to the courts of this country, most especially the supreme court in the past several years under the current administration. We should all be concerned for our future and the future of our children and grandchildren as our rights and freedoms continue to diminish and even taken away by fear tactics and puritanical views being forced upon us all. Toobin does and excellent job of showing us the ultimate force the supreme court holds in this country.