Toobin's writing about the Supreme Court is always well worth reading, and this book is no exception. It traces the difficult relationship between President Obama and the Court from its ill-starred beginning to the ambiguous upholding of most of the Affordable Care Act in 2013. At the beginning, of course, Chief Justice Roberts made mistakes in administering the President's oath of office, and the process had to be repeated. And at the end, the Chief Justice astonished many observers by voting to uphold most of the provisions of the ACA. Many felt that this showed an unexpected liberal side to the Chief, but Toobin argues that he was still playing a conservative game, but in a long term context. The book is elegantly organized, basically chronologically but featuring one justice and one issue in turn. The short biographies of the justices are illuminating and very helpful, as is the review of the major cases that came before the court.
The book is also strongly opinionated -- moreso than I expected. He argues forcefully that Roberts came to the court with a "conservative" agenda in mind that was at the root the opposite of conservative. The Roberts court, in his view, was on a mission to overturn much of the law settled by Supreme Court decisions from the New Deal on. Toobin argues this compellingly, and argues that it was a radical rather than a conservative approach. I found his arguments convincing, but his political views are in line with my own. A more conservative -- or more Republican -- reader might find the arguments less convincing. Whether or not you agree, however, this book is well worth reading, both informative and thought provoking.