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mike's Reviews > The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court
The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court
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"This book is based principally on my interviews with the justices and more than seventy-five of their law clerks," author Jeffrey Toobin writes in his notes that close the book. "The interviews were on a not-for-attribution basis -- that is, I could use the information provided but without quoting directly or identifying the source."
If you read the book back-to-front -- like the apocryphal politicos who look for their names in the index before reading a book -- you'll see the problem with this book right away. You've got to trust Toobin as an author and a journalist in order to trust the book.
I started out trusting it, but somewhere around the time that he took on Bush v. Gore, my view started to change... this was a man with an agenda to push, and though it may make for entertaining reading, it doesn't inspire confidence when all of the sources are anonymous.
So I didn't finish this one. I bailed out at page 199, just before he began to profile Scalia. I'm no fan of Scalia's jurisprudence myself, but I am also loath to impugn the reputation of a sitting Justice... and I feared that was what Toobin was about to do.
I close my eyes during the scary parts of movies. I even close my eyes on Splash Mountain, for heaven's sake. So it comes as no surprise that when I smelled the vitriol that was about to come, I bailed out. Maybe it didn't come after all. But I wasn't sticking around to find out.
Modern journalism isn't well served by the preponderance of anonymous sources, all with an axe to grind, in our newspapers' front pages. I'm frankly surprised I got this deep into the book before questioning its methodology. And that, dear reader, is a testament to its entertainment value, at least for a while.
Soon after I shut the book for good, Super Tuesday came along and I saw Toobin on CNN, huffing and puffing along with all the other talking heads. It was then that I knew shutting the book was the right decision. The Supreme Court exists to live above the political. It's not always successful (cf. Bush v. Gore), but it's meant to. Having a political analyst analyze the Court is, in a way, missing the point.
If you read the book back-to-front -- like the apocryphal politicos who look for their names in the index before reading a book -- you'll see the problem with this book right away. You've got to trust Toobin as an author and a journalist in order to trust the book.
I started out trusting it, but somewhere around the time that he took on Bush v. Gore, my view started to change... this was a man with an agenda to push, and though it may make for entertaining reading, it doesn't inspire confidence when all of the sources are anonymous.
So I didn't finish this one. I bailed out at page 199, just before he began to profile Scalia. I'm no fan of Scalia's jurisprudence myself, but I am also loath to impugn the reputation of a sitting Justice... and I feared that was what Toobin was about to do.
I close my eyes during the scary parts of movies. I even close my eyes on Splash Mountain, for heaven's sake. So it comes as no surprise that when I smelled the vitriol that was about to come, I bailed out. Maybe it didn't come after all. But I wasn't sticking around to find out.
Modern journalism isn't well served by the preponderance of anonymous sources, all with an axe to grind, in our newspapers' front pages. I'm frankly surprised I got this deep into the book before questioning its methodology. And that, dear reader, is a testament to its entertainment value, at least for a while.
Soon after I shut the book for good, Super Tuesday came along and I saw Toobin on CNN, huffing and puffing along with all the other talking heads. It was then that I knew shutting the book was the right decision. The Supreme Court exists to live above the political. It's not always successful (cf. Bush v. Gore), but it's meant to. Having a political analyst analyze the Court is, in a way, missing the point.
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Reading Progress
September 24, 2007
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February 8, 2008
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He didn't "trash" Scalia, although he concludes that Scalia's influence on the Court - aside from his voting power - was much less in this period than his dominance in the media. And BTW, if you think the court "lives above the political" .... enjoy the fantasy!! ;)
I’ve got to agree with you on this, the difference being, I began this book understanding Toobin to be a Liberal with an agenda. There are parts in which I felt he presented the material in an unbiased way, but just as often he presented opinion as fact. I’m actually very disappointed, because I was really hoping for a peak behind the curtain and I don’t feel like that’s what I got. The scary thing to me is, this was written more or less as a contemporary analysis of the Rehnquist Court, and then of the Bush years. I’d hate to hear what he has to say about the last 12 years.
As to your analogy about how you react to the scary parts of movies, it is worth pointing out that you may be missing important things simply because you find them unappealing...no?