The Chief: The Life and Turbulent Times of Chief Justice Roberts

Biskupic (Breaking In: The Rise of Sonia Sotomayor and the Politics of Justice), a legal analyst for CNN who has covered the Supreme Court since 1989, offers an in-depth analysis of the career and judicial philosophy of the current chief justice, John Roberts. Biskupic goes light on Roberts’s personal life and mundane day-to-day details, focusing instead on his work in the George H.W. Bush Justice Department, his time on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, his 2005 appointment and confirmation to the Supreme Court, and his role in the back-and-forth of the justices’ decision making. Biskupic is clear that Roberts’s views are deeply conservative and, in the areas of race and religion, unlikely to change, but she also discusses at length his surprising vote to uphold the Affordable Care Act, which infuriated conservatives and prompted liberals to hope he may compromise on culturally divisive issues. At times Biskupic is openly critical of Roberts; she raises doubts about his claim that the Court’s recent decisions on voting rights, religion, and campaign finance were neutral decision making rather than the work of a political institution. In these pages, Roberts comes across as a dyed-in-the-wool conservative whose views have remained remarkably unchanging over time. Biskupic’s analysis will be closely read by Court watchers on both the Right and Left. (Mar.)