Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!
Rate this book!
Write a review?
One of the most insightful books about the inner workings of The Supreme Court every done.
I have a hard time believing that Chief Justice Burger was really as intellectually challenged as he is portrayed here. I also have more respect for Thurgood Marshall than to believe that he just loafed along his days on the Court. Still, this book was a fascinating look at the Supreme Court both as a bit of history and as a good look at how the Court is still run. Woodward organizes this book chronologically. It basically begins when Chief Justice Burger takes over from Chief Justice Earl Warre...
His first foray in what would turn out to be a long-term fascination with the U.S. Supreme Court, Bob Woodward along with co-author Scott Armstrong wrote the first comprehensive insider book on the US Supremes. The time period ranges from1969 to the historic decision of Gregg v. Georgia in 1976, part of the "July 2 cases" which reopened the states' power to impose the death penalty. The Court's decisions shaped American policy on civil rights, Watergate, the Vietnam war, abortion, and even laws
A must-read for any lawyer, law student, or SCOTUS observer. An inside story of the Court for each term from 1969-75, Woodward and Armstrong provide intimate details about the justices' deliberations on landmark decisions (such as Roe v. Wade, the Watergate tapes case, and the busing/school desegregation cases), day-to-day life on the Court, and the fascinating interpersonal dynamics among the justices. Perhaps most striking are the unabashed and often unforgiving views of each other that the ju...
This book was published in 1979 but the audible version was not released until 2019. Since I am now pretty much entirely an audible person, I have just now finally listened to this book that covers The supreme court terms of 1969 through 1975. It turns out that was a pretty active period of time for the supreme court.If you ever thought the Supreme Court was a fairly non-partisan body, this book will definitely show you that your impression was mistaken. This behind-the-scenes portrayal of the w...
Study of how our Supreme Court works. Hard to believe that it is really as depicted, with the Justice's clerks in control and Chief Justice Burger a total idiot. But maybe .... Much of the book chronicles events in the Nixon era, and if you are in your 50's this book explains alot of what went on and why. Very good.
The inner working of the Supreme Court, the highest court I the land, often the court of last resort. My high expectations going into this book were mostly met, my opinion of the way this court works, were not. They dealt with busing, segregation, was the court that ruled on Roe v. Wade, the Watergate debacle, rights for mental patients, and the right of the death penalty. Four justices were appointed by Nixon, believe it or not, Berger, the chief justice was one.Instead of stately, fair working...
In what is putatively a democracy, with power given by the people, and then shared among three coequal branches of government the United States Supreme Court stands apart. It is distinctly undemocratic: unelected, unaccountable, and secretive. The Supreme Court is where the power is, because it doesn't matter who makes the laws, or enforces the laws; it only matters who interprets the laws. The Supreme Court has always been a political branch, though it's only fairly recently that we've come to
I read this book in high school, as a high school senior for a Constitutional Law class. I loved it, I loved every minute of it. I found the book very compelling then, and I am sure that I would now. I read the book for a class, but I really got into it, without even knowing the cases that the court heard, who was on the court and the politics behind all of it. Personally, I think that this book really gave me an inside look into the legal system, and is possibly the reason why I became a lawyer...
Whether they realize it or not, the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court have enormous ongoing impact on the lives and prospects of every American. Most Americans who actually follow politics and public affairs have very strong opinions about the court: about what its proper role should be, about what philosophy of jurisprudence should guide its decisions, and about how well the current and past courts have measured up (or failed to) by those standards. I'm certainly no exception; my own perspect...
This is a story of what came after the Warren Court – the Burger Court.The appellation of the Warren Court was not merely a product of journalistic shorthand. The Chief Justice exerts enormous power over Court decisions. If he is in the majority of the initial vote, he assigns opinions. The resulting assignment affects the nuance of legal reasoning which can strengthen or dilute the effects of a decision. The authors note that Warren's successor, Warren Burger, was careful to vote with the major...
OK, I haven’t read All the Presidents Men, but of all the Woodward books I’ve read, this is by far the best. Woodward can get just about anyone to talk to him, and that is never more clear than in this book. He’s got direct quotes from meetings where there were only five people in attendance. Its amazing.Some brief thoughts on some of the justices features in this book:Brennan- rules.Burger – was a toolMarshall – was a much better lawyer than he was a justice.Rehnquist – dick.Douglas –dick, but
A classic. Through and through. Sparked an interest that turned into a passion, and is still burning years after I first read it in high school. Every time I read this book I gain new insights. If only we could see behind today's Supreme Court. After The Brethren came out though, I doubt any justices will be talking to reporters anymore.
Just finished “The Brethren” by Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong. This is a book that is both book history and a part of history itself. Originally written in 1979, the book covers the first six years of Chief Justice Warren Burger’s Supreme Court. The Burger Court was a period wherein the Supreme Court took both a turn to the right and affirmed several key “liberal” cases. It is a period where important cases involving school bussing, abortion, freedom of speech, pornography, presidential “exec...
Amazing. I had no idea Warren Burger was such an insufferable person. I mean I heard bad things but I had NO IDEA. Apparently the whole reason this book got written was because so many of the other justices were peeved at Burger and they had to vent in long, extended interviews.The book focuses too much on Watergate (perhaps justifiably for Woodward) and the extremely detailed background on some cases (the multiple memos, amendments,drafts, and meetings behind them), but one leaves the book with...
This was a fascinating look inside the Supreme Court and it reads practically like a novel. It was scary learning what motivates a lot of the decision-making on the court - at the end of the day these are just nine normal people deciding such important issues that affect so many. I would have liked to learn more about Blackmun and I felt that Woodward's portrayal of him was very different than his portrayal in "Becoming Justice Blackmun." You might like this book more if you are a liberal, becau...
I absolutely loved this book! I had to complete a research paper in high school on the legalization of abortion. The Roe vs. Wade trial. This book was one of the ones that helped immensely. It was a great, interesting read through out the court cases and Justices through the years and terms of each one!
I found Woodward's prose to make this a compelling and accessible volume on the Court. My intellectual curiousity was piqued by some of the cases discussed.
This book was written before Ronald Reagan appointed, in 1981, the first woman to the Supreme Court, so at the time, "the brethren" was an appropriate way to refer to the justices on the Supreme Court. I think it's still the way to which the justices are referred in general, even though more than one woman has now served on the high court. This book is an interesting look at the way the Supreme Court functioned a few decades ago, but perhaps the time has come for Bob Woodward to revisit this top...
When this book came out, my first response was "Wow." How did Woodward get all of these inside stories? But that's my normal response to many of his books. Why do people open up so much to him? I once used this as a textbook in a course on Law and Politics, since it gives an "inside view" of the Supreme Court. Questions have been raised about this work, but--in thne end--a good read and a work that gets one to thinking about the Court.