I took up this book out of duty more than for pleasure, but I was pleasantly surprised. Jeffrey Toobin not only did his homework, but he composed an elegant and coherent narrative on how much the Rehnquist Court managed to PROTECT us from the extreme right, even though it’s been called a conservative court.

In other words, yes, this is written from a certain, but subtle, point of view, and ends on a somewhat fearful note, as we go into our first full year with John Roberts as Chief and Samuel Alito as the new associate justice. This court as now constituted, Toobin hints, will NOT protect us from the extreme right, is likely to aid and abet them in furthering their long-term goals, overturning Roe v. Wade, expanding government authority into the private choices of citizens, and collaborating with the current administration’s maltreatment of Gitmo and other detainees. Yikes.

But since this is from a certain point of view, I’m off to look more closely into other material. I’m starting with a biography of David Souter, who sounds sorta like my kinda guy. We’ll see!