The Brethren Sparknotes

The Brethren is a book about the evolution of the Burger Court during the years of 1969 to 1976. The Brethren takes readers inside the court for a fascinating view of how things really work: how justices build majorities for their points of view and, occasionally, how they lose them; how the chief justice can use his power to assign cases to impress their philosophy on the final decision; and the unique role played by the law clerks. This book is a balanced account of the inner workings of the Supreme Court from 1969 to 1976, the first seven years of Warren Burger's tenure as Chief Justice. The storytelling is also clearly slanted against the Burger court but the overall quality of the work makes the bias forgivable. It describes the decision
Throughout the book, Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong explain and analyze the terms of different justices within the terms of President Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford. The start of the book deals with the Court's transition from the Warren Court to the Burger Court when both Earl Warren and Abe Fortas retire. Nixon appoints Warren Burger, as Chief Justice, and Harry Blackmun to take their places. From there, the story tracks the ongoing struggle to control the Court's direction. The Warren Court was famous for championing civil rights, most notably the Brown v. Board decisions, and generally had more liberal leanings. Burger's appointment, however, was intended to put the Court on a more conservative course. According to The Brethren, Burger was a poor choice, as shown in, “A Chief must be a statesman, a master of the Court's internal protocols, able to inspire, cajole and compromise, a man of integrity, who commanded the respect of his colleges... Warren Burger was none of these things. He was a product of Richard Nixon's
Woodward and Armstrong did a fantastic job at getting behind the scenes, mostly talking to former clerks, and telling the story of each term. It was amazing how detailed and story-like the authors were able to make the book seem like. Also, Woodward and Armstrong allow the reader to become acquainted with the personalities of the various Justices as well as their views and styles. The mechanics of things and how those things get done is also revealed. The impressive feature here is the lack of discussion among the Justices, who spend more time discussing cases with their clerks rather than with each other. The troubling part was getting a view into how many cases were ultimately decided. As expected, the Supreme Court was not 100% pure and flawless, but actually reading real facts and statistics about the corruption, still brought disappointment. Often the principles and legal arguments did not carry as much weight as maneuvering and bargaining among the justices and whatever personal agenda prevailed. The Brethren also gives readers a view of the lawless court, ruled by the vanities and proclivities of men. For example, when dealing with the death penalty, the book mentions, “It was a phony issue. They had already decided the question by a secret vote in a 1967 case (Boykin v. Alabama)m though the result had never been made public since the case was decided on other grounds,”(1971 Term,