Chapters 14-15, The Ninety-Page Swan Song of John Paul Stevens, Summary and Analysis

When Sandra Day O'Connor was the court's swing vote, she tended to split the difference, giving one side 51% and the other 49%. But Kennedy's swing vote vacillated wildly from case to case (from conservative to liberal, often in opposition to government power) but he had a particular attachment to the first amendment. In his Citizens United decision, he saw the case as a free speech case. It was simple for him, as the government was muffling political voices.

But for John Paul Stevens, a consistent liberal, the case was complicated and had critical implications for American politics. Stevens was nearly 90 at the time and in surprising shape, and Toobin then reviews his biography. Nominated by moderate Republican, Gerald Ford, he too was a moderate...