8.2 /10 1 Votes
Language English ISBN 0-671-24110-9 Page count 467 OCLC 61201839 | 4.1/5 Goodreads Pages 467 Originally published 1979 Country United States of America | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Subject Supreme Court of the United States Similar Bob Woodward books, Supreme court books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Brethren is a 1979 book by Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong. It gives a "behind-the-scenes" account of the United States Supreme Court during Warren Burger's early years as Chief Justice of the United States.
Using Woodward's trademark writing technique involving "off-the-record" sources, the book provides an account of the deliberations leading to some of the more controversial Court decisions from the 1970s. Among the cases with substantial treatment in the book was the decision in United States v. Nixon (1974), where the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Richard Nixon was legally obligated to turn over the Watergate tapes.
In 1985, upon the death of Associate Justice Potter Stewart, Woodward disclosed that Stewart had been the primary source for The Brethren.