Listening to the Law

Reflections on the Court and Constitution

By: Amy Coney Barrett

Narrated by: January LaVoy, Amy Coney Barrett

From Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a glimpse of her journey to the Court and an account of her approach to the Constitution

Since her confirmation hearing, Americans have peppered Justice Amy Coney Barrett with questions. How has she adjusted to the Court? What is it like to be a Supreme Court justice with school-age children? Do the justices get along? What does her normal day look like? How does the Court get its cases? How does it decide them? How does she decide?

In Listening to the Law, Justice Barrett answers these questions and more. She lays out her role (and daily life) as a justice, touching on everything from her deliberation process to dealing with media scrutiny. With the warmth and clarity that made her a popular law professor, she brings to life the making of the Constitution and explains her approach to interpreting its text. Whether sharing stories of clerking for Justice Scalia or walking readers through prominent cases, she invites readers to wrestle with originalism and to embrace the rich heritage of our Constitution.

*Includes a downloadable PDF of the Appendix from the book

Written for lay people enjoyable by all

As a legal professional, I was hoping to get a more of a Supreme Court Justice's insidd view of the court. What I found was an excellent treatise on the constitution written to the lay person. Justice Barrett does an excellent job tracing the history of the constitution as well as a great primer on judicial interpretation. I came away more impressed with Justice Barrett and her judicial integrity. Highly recommend!!

Very educational

Liked the straightforward explanation and answers to my questions and concerns about the Supreme Court.

Explanation

A little too much legal information but very interesting. Very clear and understandable. ++ Thanks
JM

Everyone can benefit from this book

Listening to the Law
Reflections on the Court & the Constitution

By Amy Coney Barrett

It would benefit anyone, left or right, to read, or listen to Justice Barrett’s book.

She seems to have gone to great effort to leave politics out of the narrative. It WAS an excellent history and education about the Supreme Court and the Constitution, and why things are done the way they are. You often feel you are getting a great deal; an Ivy League level college class on the Court and the Constitution for the price of this book. Quite a bargain from a Justice who was a Constitutional Law professor.

You will notice that when describing hypotheticals or what ifs, Justice Barrett refers to “she” rather than they or he when describing a generic person’s actions. I did not detect feminism as much as a reasonable way to handle the question of gender in such narratives. My impression was if I were telling the story and referred to “he” since I am male, no offense would be taken. I could be completely incorrect, but if not, what a unique and wise way to handle the lingo.

I believe everyone could learn something from this book, including how to be on opposite ends of the political spectrum and still treat each other with respect.

I wasn't sure what to expect

I wasn't sure what I would find in this. look but what I found was avery interesting discussion of constitutional history statutory interpretation and how the court works.