Reading "The Brethren"

I found a copy of The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court by Bob Woodward (All the President's Men) and Scott Armstrong in a second-hand-books sale.

It's a bit outdated — it portrays the Warren Court in the 1970s during the Nixon era — but it makes for an interesting read of landmark Supreme Court decisions of those days. Written in Woodward's classic journalistic style ala-All the Presidents' Men, it relies heavily on "background" sources that can at times sound too much like office gossip. The sourcing is understandable, though, since the US Supreme Court has a long tradition of not showing its hand, of making its decision processes a secret. In the introduction, the writers say that no other institution has controlled the way they are viewed by the public.

IANAL, but this makes for a pretty interesting read. Besides, for Php50, this one's a steal.