The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court building was designed by Cass Gilbert and built in 1935. Toobin refers to it in both the Prologue and Epilogue. The design was a workaround for the tight space allotted for the structure. Rather than a long approach giving a sense of awe to the building, Gilbert used a high staircase of 44 step to create elevation. This was both literal and figurative, as the steps signified the Court as an institution that was above everyday politics. This is the impression visitors to the Court got climbing the steps to the entrance. Toobin introduces this idea right away, but notes that “[t]he truth about the Court has always been more complicated” (2). His entire book is an effort to show that, in fact, the Court is not above politics. At the end, the steps make another appearance, as Toobin states in the Epilogue that, with heightened security after the September 11 attacks, the steps had been closed as an entrance. Visitors now entered on the side, but still exited down the steps, “and watch Gilbert’s vision recede behind them” (337). The implication is that idea of the Court being above politics is also receding.