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25th out of 68 books
—
29 voters
Five Chiefs: A Supreme Court Memoir
When he resigned last June, Justice Stevens was the third longest serving Justice in American history (1975-2010)--only Justice William O. Douglas, whom Stevens succeeded, and Stephen Field have served on the Court for a longer time.
In Five Chiefs, Justice Stevens captures the inner workings of the Supreme Court via his personal experiences with the five Chief Justices--F...more
In Five Chiefs, Justice Stevens captures the inner workings of the Supreme Court via his personal experiences with the five Chief Justices--F...more
Hardcover, 292 pages
Published
October 3rd 2011
by Little, Brown and Company
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Good book. Not a law professor’s book; not even the sort of law professor’s book that’s written for a lay audience. Nor does it get deep into the weeds the way Edward Lazarus’s Closed Chambers did. Instead, it was like a casual conversation with someone who was deeply involved in writing the world we live in.
It’s mostly conversational, but emotion does bubble up. On the retirement of Justice Thurgood Marshall, who he clearly had great respect for:
“Thurgood’s retirement may well have been the...more
It’s mostly conversational, but emotion does bubble up. On the retirement of Justice Thurgood Marshall, who he clearly had great respect for:
“Thurgood’s retirement may well have been the...more
I expected most of the book to be written about legal cases. But reading about the procedures that the court followed (like how opinions were passed around the justices) was both exciting and refreshing. Apparently, there are basketball courts and tennis courts in the Supreme Court’s building.
I also like how Stevens was brutally honest. True to his role as “the dissenter”, he blatantly points out when he thinks that the majority in the court is just plain wrong and highlights the past arguments...more
I also like how Stevens was brutally honest. True to his role as “the dissenter”, he blatantly points out when he thinks that the majority in the court is just plain wrong and highlights the past arguments...more
John Paul Stevens, U-High’37, AB’41
Author
When he resigned last June, Justice Stevens was the third longest serving Justice in American history (1975-2010)—only Justice William O. Douglas, whom Stevens succeeded, and Stephen Field have served on the Court for a longer time.
In Five Chiefs, Justice Stevens captures the inner workings of the Supreme Court via his personal experiences with the five Chief Justices--Fred Vinson, Earl Warren, Warren Burger, William Rehnquist, and John Roberts—that he in...more
Author
When he resigned last June, Justice Stevens was the third longest serving Justice in American history (1975-2010)—only Justice William O. Douglas, whom Stevens succeeded, and Stephen Field have served on the Court for a longer time.
In Five Chiefs, Justice Stevens captures the inner workings of the Supreme Court via his personal experiences with the five Chief Justices--Fred Vinson, Earl Warren, Warren Burger, William Rehnquist, and John Roberts—that he in...more
This book really deserves three stars, but I cheated a little and added a star for Justice Stephens' charm. I am not going to give a synopsis, you can read that elsewhere. My complaints about the book are that the lay person will be confused and uninterested in the short descriptions of the various holdings in cases that Stephens found important or interesting. Meanwhile lawyers or legal scholars will be unsatisfied by the short attention given to those cases. Neither group will be particular in...more
I was quite interested to read this book. As I age I find myself more involved in what is going on in politics, etc. The Supreme Court is so vital to how we live in this country and it is almost ignored by people. I must admit to a certain surprise at its length given the topic; Justice Stevens has lived a long, eventful life and interacted with some of the most well known Chief Justices. I was expecting a longer book.
The stories he tells are broken down into six sections; the first gives a brie...more
The stories he tells are broken down into six sections; the first gives a brie...more
Description:
Five Chiefs is memoir detailing John Paul Stevens' life and career as a Supreme Court Justice, which includes sections about the Chief Justices he served under.
Review:
I have never been a "politics-junky", but as I have gotten older I've realized the importance of politics in today's society. So when I read the blurb, I decided to try reading it. Thankfully, John Paul Stevens writing style and organization wasn't as dry and boring as I thought it would be. Sure, some sections seemed...more
Five Chiefs is memoir detailing John Paul Stevens' life and career as a Supreme Court Justice, which includes sections about the Chief Justices he served under.
Review:
I have never been a "politics-junky", but as I have gotten older I've realized the importance of politics in today's society. So when I read the blurb, I decided to try reading it. Thankfully, John Paul Stevens writing style and organization wasn't as dry and boring as I thought it would be. Sure, some sections seemed...more
I gave this book a much better rating than most other readers, so I feel like I should explain why. 1. I'm a total Supreme Court gossip junky, and this has lots of little details about the justices and their spouses. 2. People want this book to be like Toobin's "The Nine," but I like that when you're reading Stevens, you know he's making himself look good because he wrote it. Whereas in Toobin's book, the people who agreed to divulge dirt on other justices got to look good, but you really had to...more
This was more closer to 3.5 than 3. However, Putting it at 4 stars seems a bit of a reach. The Justice's background shows and some of the book was just too technical for most readers. He also isn't telling the whole truth I feel. If you read this book, all the justices just get along absolutely great with each other all the time and the biggest interpersonal issue was that Rehnquist put gold stripes on his robe. I did find his comments about why he wouldn't attend the taking of the oath for just...more
Chatty legal memoir by Justice Stephens about the five Chief Justices with whom he had dealings. Occasionally the discussion gets into obtuse principles of constitutional law. But there are other attractions to this book: for example, who knew that there are spitoons behind the US Supreme Court bench? Or that Justices Stephens and Breyer agreed that the Bush Campaign's application to stay the Florida recount was so frivolous that the Court would never grant it? Justice Stephens manages to roundl...more
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Kinda actually deserves two ratings; a four star rating for if you are a law dork and a two star rating if you are not (then again, why are you reading Justice Stevens's remembrance of five Supreme Court chiefs if you aren't a law dork?) (in reality more like a 3.5 for law dorks and a 2.5 for non-law dorks, but I give up on trying to convince GoodReads to give us a half-star option) so the 3 star rating is a compromise. It picks up momentum in the latter chapters on the chiefs he served with (Bu...more
When he resigned last June, Justice Stevens was the third longest serving Justice in American history (1975-2010)--only Justice William O. Douglas, whom Stevens succeeded, and Stephen Field have served on the Court for a longer time.
In Five Chiefs, Justice Stevens captures the inner workings of the Supreme Court via his personal experiences with the five Chief Justices--Fred Vinson, Earl Warren, Warren Burger, William Rehnquist, and John Roberts--that he interacted with. He reminisces of being a...more
In Five Chiefs, Justice Stevens captures the inner workings of the Supreme Court via his personal experiences with the five Chief Justices--Fred Vinson, Earl Warren, Warren Burger, William Rehnquist, and John Roberts--that he interacted with. He reminisces of being a...more
Read this as a study break. It's a quick read. Justice Stevens's discussion of major precedents are pretty much limited to 2 paragraphs per case, so don't expect to learn much about the law. However, I did like the way he organized his memoir around the position of Chief Justice of SCOTUS. Some great insight into the character and working methods of the 5 chief justices Stevens personally knew, whether as a clerk, practicing lawyer, and associate justice. Stevens also provides a good insider's v...more
Enjoyed the book (somewhere between 3.5 and 4), and love reading about inner workings of Supreme Court. Probably a little too much discussion of individual cases to remain interesting to many non-lawyers, but discussion of each case was too brief and superficial to offer meaningful legal insight. I found him engaging and charming, as I expected, and I appreciated his views of Rehnquist, Thomas, Roberts and other colleagues, as well as his thoughts on proper role of Supreme Court. Also, interesti...more
Rambly schmably. I guess the description had me hoping for a slightly different kind of book - if it had been called "random thoughts on my awesome life and the people I ran into" by Justice John Paul Stevens, I was totally there. I thought there would be more about the transitions in the court from Chief to Chief, which I felt was lacking, except in a really superficial way, when Stevens seemed to remember that that is what his memoir was supposed to be detailing - accomplished with random, non...more
A newspaper review referred to this as a "gentle" memoir and that is an apt description. Stevens comes across as a nice old man who, while wanting to share some of his experiences on the Supreme Court, does not want to ruffle feathers. The chapter about the tenure of William Rehnquist as Chief Justice is the most interesting and the closest to being the least bit controversial. Stevens spends a little bit too much time on minutiae (the colour of legal briefs, the placement of a table) that, seem...more
This was not the book I expected when I heard that Justice Stevens was writing a memoir. And it's not really a memoir of Justice Stevens so much as it is his thoughts organized around the Chief Justices of his time. The book is at its best, I think, when J. Stevens is discussing some esoteric legal principle that I've never thought about and isn't relevant to much anymore -- I loved the section of his discussing the propriety of recess judicial appointments, for example.
My profound feeling read...more
My profound feeling read...more
At the time of his retirement in June 2010 Justice John Paul Stevens was the oldest and the third-longest-serving Supreme Court Justice. In his Supreme Court memoir Five Chiefs Justice Stevens has written an elegant and engaging book about the inner working of the Supreme Court under the leadership of the five chief justices that Stevens worked with and knew. If you are looking to read smack or naughty tidbits of the other justices, this book is not for you and you don’t know Justice Stevens. Fi...more
Enjoying this book is going to depend entirely on how fascinating you find Supreme Court procedures and rulings. If you are interested in personalities and gossip of high-powered Washington insiders, you will only get glimpses. Stevens, it seems, is a gentleman. He rates each of the Chief Justices under whom he worked (either as clerk, arguing advocate, or fellow justice). Stevens seems to strive to combine accuracy with tact and fairness in his analyses. He includes strengths and weaknesses for...more
An interesting perspective by Justice Stevens on his time on the court; the focus on the Five Chief Justices that he knew including the three that he served with on his time of the court. There is some irony on this focus in that after leaving aside the administrative parts of the job, a theme of Stevens is that the Chief Justice is just one of nine in deciding the major legal issues facing our country.
While the book includes discussion of the legal issues and the perspective of Stevens on the m...more
While the book includes discussion of the legal issues and the perspective of Stevens on the m...more
This book is appropriately subtitled A Memoir. Justice Stevens gives his impressions of all of the Chief Justices of the United States Supreme Court. The first 12 justices are discussed in the first chapter. And the last five, those he had some personal experience with, each have their own chapter. His highest praise goes to the first Chief Justice John Marshall.
Stevens relates events like the Spouses group that prepares a meal every years for the members of the court. He also talks about how t...more
Stevens relates events like the Spouses group that prepares a meal every years for the members of the court. He also talks about how t...more
Justice Stevens is adorable. I mean, the man wears bow ties. What’s not to love about that? When he retired from the Court, the Chicago Bar Association held a gala in his honor, and I was fortunate enough to be able to attend. At the gala, he gave a short speech in which he railed against originalism, particularly as applied in four cases: Lopez, Printz, Heller, and McDonald. He was polite and showed a huge respect to his brethren, but also was more than willing to disagree in an intellectual, w...more
When I first heard that John Paul Stevens was writing a memoir that coved his life's intersection with the Supreme Court of the United States, I was very excited. He was one of my favorite justices, due to his somewhat liberal bent. Liberal in that the rest of the Court had moved so far to the right that a moderate conservative is now seen as a "liberal".
What a fantastic book. Stevens gives insight into his judicial philosophy and what has transpired during the tenures of the last five Chief Jus...more
What a fantastic book. Stevens gives insight into his judicial philosophy and what has transpired during the tenures of the last five Chief Jus...more
I have considered Stevens my favorite Supreme Court Justice since taking a Constitutional law course in college and I was surprised to be disappointed with this book when i first picked it up. In the end, I have oscillated between 3 and 4 stars for this book and I think that it depends on what my expectations about the type of book Justice Stevens wrote. When I first picked up book, I assumed that it would be more historical and academic and more like his written opinions. This book is more of a...more
I received a copy of Five Chiefs thanks to goodreads' first reads. In the book, retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens recounts his time on the Court by reviewing the Chief Justices with whom he served. Before getting to this, he gives a brief run down of the Chief Justices that came before his tenure on the Court, highlighting their major contribution, both positive and negative, to the jurisprudence of this country.
I think Justice Stevens tried to write a book that would appeal to a m...more
I think Justice Stevens tried to write a book that would appeal to a m...more
I received this book through the firstreads program, and it sat on my shelf for a while. Once I finally opened it and got into the first chapter, on the Court's first twelve chief justices, I quickly needed to call a lawyer friend for a better explanation of the Chisholm v. Georgia (1793) case, which established - or actually didn't establish - U.S. law on sovereign immunity.
My putting the book aside for a while wasn't a judgment on its style - because Stevens writes beautifully. It was more my...more
My putting the book aside for a while wasn't a judgment on its style - because Stevens writes beautifully. It was more my...more
I really wanted to rate this book higher. I guess a more accurate rating would be a 3.5. I did enjoy this book despite the lower rating.
A few things kept me from rating it higher.
1. Justice Stevens chronology is confusing. It is a memoir so there is a bit of wiggle room. However, at times it read like an old man reminiscing and losing track of the point he wanted to make. Also, since he focused on the chief justices he made little mention of when other justices retired or were appointed to the c...more
A few things kept me from rating it higher.
1. Justice Stevens chronology is confusing. It is a memoir so there is a bit of wiggle room. However, at times it read like an old man reminiscing and losing track of the point he wanted to make. Also, since he focused on the chief justices he made little mention of when other justices retired or were appointed to the c...more
This was a pretty interesting take on Justice John Paul Stevens' 35 years (1975 - 2010) on the Supreme Court. He organized the book based on the 5 chief justices that he knew or worked with personally (either as a lawyer, appellate court judge, or Court justice).
Because he spent such a long time on the Court, Stevens was able to provide a bit of a first person account of some of the Court's most important recent decisions, and explain his thoughts on those decisions. He doesn't hold back any pu...more
Because he spent such a long time on the Court, Stevens was able to provide a bit of a first person account of some of the Court's most important recent decisions, and explain his thoughts on those decisions. He doesn't hold back any pu...more
Overall a somewhat interesting review of the major cases during John Paul Steven's tenure on the Supreme Court, but I have to say that I was disappointed overall. It felt as though Stevens went for breadth instead of depth (Citizens United received all of 3 sentences) and that he was hesitant to really dive into any particular anecdotes or stories (his most personal sense of anguish seemed to be about the decision to re-arrange the furniture in the main discussion chamber).
I just love that John Paul Stevens and his bow ties. This is a delightfully conversational memoir about his work advocating in front of, and later sitting the bench alongside, five SCOTUS chief justices. I loved that he rambled back and forth between deep philosophical musings about important cases from each chief's tenure and crotchety grumblings about how those younger justices moved the table in the conference room so he couldn't hear what Ruth Bader Ginsburg was saying from the other end, da...more
This book was disappointing. I was expecting an examination of what the five Chief Justices are like and their contributions as seen by a longtime member of the court. Instead the book is partly a discussion of the chiefs but mostly its a rambling memoir, similar to but not as interesting as all the other books on recent Supreme Court history. In essence this is a way for Justice Stevens to get the last word on some cases, the outcome of which he disagrees with.
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John Paul Stevens served as a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1970-1975. President Ford nominated him as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and he took his seat December 19, 1975. Justice Stevens retired from the Supreme Court on June 29, 2010.
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Apr 29, 2013 07:49am