GLENVIEW, IL—Chicago native and CNN legal analyst, Joan Biskupic, met fans at our Glenview bookstore (The Book Market) on Sunday, April 7th to discuss her new book, The Chief: The Life and Turbulent Times of Chief Justice John Roberts. The 421-page book has been receiving rave reviews and was recently featured on the cover of the recent New York Times Book Review.
“Biskupic all but throws up her hands toward the end of her narrative, calling Roberts an “enigma,” but she suggests that he is pulled by two often-conflicting instincts,” writes reviewer Adam Cohen. “One is ideological: a desire to move the court rightward on race, religion, and other issues. The other is institutional: an interest in the court being respected and seen as non-political.”
In an interview on PBS News Hour, Biskupic tells Woodruff that her book has been years in the making.
“I started this book in 2015, when Justice Scalia was still alive; Anthony Kennedy was in control,” says Biskupic. “I wanted to look at how a chief justice manages the tensions between the right wing and the left wing and how John Roberts, who so many people don’t understand and recall only from his 2005 confirmation hearings, what he was all about.”
In addition to her biography of Roberts, The Chief, Biskupic is the author of books on Sandra Day O’Connor, Antonin Scalia, and Sonia Sotomayor. Biskupic holds a law degree from Georgetown University and lives in Washington, D.C.