The oath

Jeffrey Toobin

An insider's account of the momentous ideological war between the John Roberts Supreme Court and the Obama administration. From the moment John Roberts, the Chief Justice of the United States, flubbed the Oath of Office at Barack Obama's inauguration, the relationship between the Supreme Court and the White House has been confrontational. Both men are young, brilliant, charismatic, charming, determined to change the course of the nation--and completely at odds on almost every major constitutional issue. One is radical; one essentially conservative. The surprise is that Obama is the conservative--a believer in incremental change, compromise, and pragmatism over ideology. Roberts--and his allies on the Court--seek to overturn decades of precedent: in short, to undo the victory FDR achieved in the New Deal. And now they are linked in history by Roberts's stunning vote to uphold...