The Chief: The Life and Turbulent Times of Chief Justice John Roberts

An incisive biography of the Supreme Court's enigmatic Chief Justice, taking us inside the momentous legal decisions of his tenure so far
John Roberts was named to the Supreme Court in 2005 claiming he would act as a neutral umpire in deciding cases. His critics argue he has been anything but, pointing to his conservative victories on voting rights and campaign finance. Yet he broke from orthodoxy in his decision to preserve Obamacare. How are we to understand the motives of the most powerful judge in the land?
In The Chief, award-winning journalist Joan Biskupic contends that Roberts is torn between two, often divergent, priorities: to carry out a conservative agenda, and to protect the Court's image and his place in history. Biskupic shows how Roberts's dual commitments have fostered distrust among his colleagues, with major consequences for the law. Trenchant and authoritative, The Chief reveals the making of a justice and the drama on this nation's highest court.

• First: Sandra Day O'Connor
• The Making of a Justice: Reflections on My First 94 Years
• Oliver Wendell Holmes: A Life in War, Law, and Ideas
• American Original: The Life and Constitution of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
• Confirmation Bias: Inside Washington's War Over the Supreme Court, from Scalia's Death to Justice Kavanaugh
• Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law
• Truth in Our Times: Inside the Fight for Press Freedom in the Age of Alternative Facts
• American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump
• John Marshall: The Man Who Made the Supreme Court
• The Hill to Die On: The Battle for Congress and the Future of Trump's America