The Justices Behind Roe v. Wade: The Inside Story, Adapted from The Brethren

by Bob Woodward, Scott Armstrong

A thrilling, behind-the-scenes account of the revolutionary Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling.The Justices Behind Roe V. Wade offers a front-row seat to the inner workings of the Supreme Court that led to the monumental Roe v. Wade decision. Spanning from 1969 to 1972, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Bob Woodward and coauthor Scott Armstrong report on the masterful maneuvering and politicking that affected the court’s decisions and created obstacles for the landmark ruling. Abridged from the #1 bestseller The Brethren, this is an exquisite work of reporting on one of the most important rulings of the United States.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Audiobook, History, History and Politics, Law

171 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 5, 2021

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Robert "Bob" Upshur Woodward is an assistant managing editor of The Washington Post. While an investigative reporter for that newspaper, Woodward, working with fellow reporter Carl Bernstein, helped uncover the Watergate scandal that led to U.S. President Richard Nixon's resignation. Woodward has written 12 best-selling non-fiction books and has twice contributed reporting to efforts that collectively earned the Post and its National Reporting staff a Pulitzer Prize.

Reviews

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did you know Nixon appointed *four* justices?? Also did you know the Supreme Court is a car of clowns with the dumbest office politics of all time

[Susan Bivins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of Woodward's writing, but this book was the exception. It covers the years leading up to Roe by how the Earl Warren Court changed to the Warren Berger court. Nixon appointed Berger, then Harry Blackman. Then within a year, Lewis Powell and William Rehnquist. The court should have gone to so conservative that Roe would never be decided. But Blackman was an attorney for Mayo clinic and didn't like how Doctor choices were being overridden by the state legislatures. Alliances were formed, partially because Berger was such a terrible leader and political hack who got the other Justices lined up against him. It's a fascinating read of the Court while I was in highschool. A look at history that almost wasn't.

[Lisa (the_epi_reader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick and easy read allowing the reader to step behind the closed doors of the Supreme Court, learning about its inner workings. While I did learn a lot, I wish more was centered around the Roe V. Wade case. Two thirds of the book was centered around setting up the background on how each Justice’s brain operates, but I suppose this makes sense since this excerpt/book is titled “The Justices Behind…… Roe v Wade.”

[braith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative, however the title is a bit misleading. The book mostly focuses on the Supreme Court and the Justices during the last few years of President Nixon's second term, with only two chapters at the end talking about Roe v Wade.

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is excerpted and adapted from the authors' seminal book about the US Supreme Court, "The Brethren" which was published in 1979. "The Justices" discusses Court history, the makeup of the Court prior to and at the time of the Roe v. Wade decision, and the social issues occurring at the time of the Court's 1973 abortion decision. A necessary read, particularly as the current court now examines abortion law in the United States.

[Sugarpuss O'Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating look behind the scenes of the SCOTUS. This is adapted from a larger book & in places, it shows. Also, I wish there was more about how these all-male Justices came to their decisions re Roe v Wade, but its still interesting nonetheless. Makes me want to read The Brethren, in its entirety.

[Kevin Stecyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Inside Look at How the US Supreme Court Decided Roe V. Wade

I had expected to learn, in great detail, the arguments for and against abortion and how the US Supreme Court ultimately rendered its decision. Instead, I found the focus was much more on the strengths and weaknesses of the different justices.

When extreme pressure is exerted upon people, we often see their foibles in full display. And the Roe v. Wade case certainly stressed the justices. Unfortunately for them, the constitution does not appear to provide a clear-cut path.

The clerks in most chambers were surprised to see the justices, particularly Blackmun, so openly brokering their decision like a group of legislators. There was a certain reasonableness to the draft, some of them thought, but it derived more from medical and social policy than from constitutional law. There was something embarrassing and dishonest about this whole process. It left the Court claiming that the Constitution drew certain lines at trimesters and viability. The Court was going to make a medical policy and force it on the states. As a practical matter, it was not a bad solution. As a constitutional matter, it was absurd. The draft was referred to by some clerks as “Harry’s abortion.”

Because the US Supreme Court has become more conservative and because there is a fear that Roe v. Wade may be overturned, I wanted to understand the issues better. After reading this book, I now have a better appreciate of how the decision was arrived at.

I believe this book is an important read because you learn, once again, that many institutions have difficulty making decisions and often rely on those with some background to guide it. In reading this book, you will find that the Supreme Court, like many institutions, is often somewhat dysfunctional.

Woodward, Bob; Armstrong, Scott. The Justices Behind Roe V. Wade: The Inside Story, Adapted from The Brethren (pp. 125-126). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.

[Emmeline Drake · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Justices Behind Roe v. Wade is an adaptation of potions of Woodward and Armstrong's book The Brethren which gave an unprecedented look into the inner workings of the notoriously secretive Supreme Court. This adaptation begins with the transition from the Warren Court to the Burger Court, a few of the Burger Court's early decisions, the appointment of each justice that voted in Roe v. Wade, and the behind the scenes deliberations in deciding and writing the majority opinion.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. Neither Woodward or Armstrong are legal scholars but I think they did a good job describing legal processes and procedures. The authors also focused on reporting the legal opinions of each of the justices and other legal scholars in a compelling manner. It is very well written and made me want to pick up a copy of The Brethren to get a more complete look into the Burger Court. 

My only complaint is that the book ends rather abruptly, this is likely because it is adapted from a larger work. It doesn't change my feelings about the book as a whole in any way, but it does just kind of end with not much of a conclusion. 

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first read about the history on the Supreme Court leading up to, and creating, the Roe v. Wade decision. I now intend to read more about it!! Woodward and Armstrong, if right, show that the chief justice at the time, Burger, had low legal intelligence, was a manipulator who engaged in regular unethical practice, and had no business probably being on the court at all. And other members of the court were idiots, poor writers, and also lacked legal intelligence. The whole decision came together as a bunch of compromises that didn't involve working out defensible compromises between the competing legal analyses, but rather legally irrelevant compromises in the justices relationships with one another, protecting their various egos, etc. In short, a clown show. It is shocking to learn that such an overwhelmingly important decision that has impacted so many arose from such a mess. And I say this as someone who is pro-choice.

[Grommit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short book, excerpted from "The Brethren", with the focus primarily on the Roe v. Wade decision.
Do you know the Justices, with the same ease that you know each player on your favorite team? If yes, this book is fine. If not, you will be confused by the interchange of names and their voting positions. Plus, the justices struggle with decisions and occasionally change their minds.
The net? This one provide interesting background.
For example, there is extensive information about the school segregation issue, but it is unclear as to what that has to do with Roe.
We do get insight into each Justice's background...which is definitely helpful.
And we get insight into the decision-making process...but, well, it does not seem that each decision is made within the confines of the law and prior cases.
In the end, we may take away the belief that the Supreme Court justices have a complex, difficult, substantively unclear path to SC decisions.

[Christina Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been wanting to understand more about this case for a while, but not having any judicial training or education, I felt uneasy about picking up a mammoth book. This book was short and pretty focused on the topic at hand which I appreciated. I did need to go back over some sections several times to fully comprehend what I just read, but overall it was digestible. I also was not familiar with the justices from the 1970's, so it was a challenge to keep them and their views straight. Justice Blackmun really shone as a hero and said something that I wish was heard more often today. He said in an Iowa speech, "the justices tried to enunciate a constitutional principle not a moral one.... law and morality overlapped but are not congruent. Moral training should come not from the court, but from the church, the family, the schools." I think so many of today's political figures want to override the constitutional intentions to conform to their moral agenda.

[Ellen Behrens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally published in 1979, back when Supreme Court Justices were less public about their views, "The Brethren" by Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong, was the most intimate view an outsider could get of the inner workings of this country's highest court. "The Justices Behind Roe v. Wade" is excerpted from "The Brethren," and includes an updated Introduction.

Never having read "The Brethren," I was shocked by the power struggles, the rivalry, and the resentment exhibited by those austere men in robes (all men at the time). Woodward and Armstrong deftly introduce readers to each of the justices -- their perspectives, their quirks, their personal histories -- all of which help us to understand their individual struggles when Roe v. Wade came before the Supreme Court soon after two new Nixon-appointed justices were confirmed at the early in the 1971-72 session.

Woodward and Armstrong so carefully detail the nominations for these two positions, the objections they faces, and the internal machinations that eventually resulted in the confirmations of Justices Lewis Powell, Jr., and William Rehnquist.

It was fascinating to read the various, shifting views the members of the Court had as they weighed Roe v. Wade. Most fascinating was discovering Roe v. Wade was taken up by the Court along with a lesser-known case, Doe v. Bolton, "only to determine whether to expand a series of recent rulings limiting the intervention of federal courts in state court proceedings." Originally, the case wasn't about abortion per se, but whether "women and doctors who felt the state prosecutions for abortions violated their constitutional rights [could] to into federal courts to stop the state."

The entire story behind the Roe v. Wade case is worthy of attention to anyone following the current challenges to it, and I highly recommend Woodward and Scott's "The Justices Behind Roe v. Wade: The Inside Story," for even more amazing revelations, legal background, and the arguments made among the justices at that time.

[Kelley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was clearly published after Trump's rushing to replace RBG before the 2020 election, so I do wish this book had put a preface or something like that to tie these 2 eras together.
It was a little dry, but again, subject matter and all that. I did like learning more about Byron White, since there's a Courthouse named after him right across from my office building.
I would probably enjoyed more lead up to what was happening by the people at the time this decision was made, not just strictly about the justices and their interpretations.

[Betty Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth reading, for all Americans, regardless of position on abortion. It opens, as does Woodward’s other book, “The Brethren “, the way the Supreme Court makes decisions that affect every aspect of our lives. It was disturbing to read about the gamesmanship and negotiations that were concerned less about the merits of the issues discussed than the need to make a show of unity when the result of their deliberations were presented.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was surprised by 1) past justice nominations being derailed by conflict-of-interest issues, 2) how political the late-sixties early-seventies justices and their decisions were, and 3) the dubious competencies of Burger (forgetful, misdirecting or misstating whether or not cases had been accepted) and Blackman (slow, indecisive, and despite spending time, the poor quality of decisions he wrote -- apparently poorly written and logically confused).

[Gopal Sadagopal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woodward does what he does best. Research in depth and provide clear history of what happened. Learnt many aspects of the issue from a constitutional point of view and about the enormous stress, agony and the level of introspection the supreme court justices have to live through.
Big questions the justices have to deal with were legal vs moral; constitution vs legislature.

[Geoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short excerpt on the judges and the history of Roe v. Wade. Really gave some good insight into the legal back and forth over the decision and reasons for and against it. Portrays Chief Justice Berger in a fairly negative light, and this taste makes me want to read the whole book, The Brethren. Woodward, as usual, is a fabulous writer.

[Ananya Raghavan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal insight into the inner workings of the Supreme Court and a case that profoundly benefitted the rights of all childbearing people across the country. A must read.

[Chip · Rating 4 out of 5]

My only negative is that this wasn't longer. Interesting and concise.

[Bonnie Allard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found it interesting. I would rate 3.5stars

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like I was cheated. Only 2 chapters of this book were about Roe vs. Wade.