Five Chiefs

A Supreme Court Memoir

By: John Paul Stevens

Narrated by: Gregory Itzin

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 law clerk during Vinson's tenure; a practicing lawyer for Warren; a circuit judge and junior justice for Burger; a contemporary colleague of Rehnquist; and a colleague of current Chief Justice John Roberts. Along the way, he will discuss his views of some the most significant cases that have been decided by the Court from Vinson, who became Chief Justice in 1946 when Truman was President, to Roberts, who became Chief Justice in 2005.

Packed with interesting anecdotes and stories about the Court, Five Chiefs is an unprecedented and historically significant look at the highest court in the United States.

GOOD ORAL HISTORY OF THE CHIEF JUSTICES

If you could sum up Five Chiefs in three words, what would they be?

Informative, Educational, Interesting

What other book might you compare Five Chiefs to and why?

The Nine by Jeffery Tobin because it too is a perspective on judicial history.

Which character – as performed by Gregory Itzin – was your favorite?

Justice John Paul Stevens

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. This book is not a novel, it is an historical presentation of the Chiefs and their presiding over judicial decisions. Therefore, I felt listening sometimes required an occasional break because it consisted of legal decisions and history (dates, times).

Any additional comments?

Enjoyed the book and learned new and interesting things about the supreme court justices.

Chapters

The chapter numbers were not accurately portayed in the audiobook table of contents. Otherwise an interesting book.

5 chiefs from an interesting perspective

A bit text-bookish but interesting background on the various chiefs as well as some of the workings of the court.

missing something

While I found the book interesting there seemed to be a glossing over of the areas I thought would be the main basis of the book. for example the roe v wade decision is only spoken of briefly after discussion of how the coffee breaks were really good.

Having loved "The Nine" . . . !

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

This book seemed written for other attorneys, somewhat

What did you like best about this story?

I liked parts of it in which Stephens discussed the justices personalities and characters and the relation to their decisions. I also enjoyed hearing about the day-to-day process of the court.

Which character – as performed by Gregory Itzin – was your favorite?

Not that kind of book.

Could you see Five Chiefs being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Not that kind of book.

Any additional comments?

I imagine attorneys and individuals who work closely with the justice system would find this very interesting. As a