The former Supreme Court justice and author of “Five Chiefs: A Supreme Court Memoir” and, most recently, “Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution,” feels indebted to Norman Maclean, who taught him poetry at the University of Chicago.

What books are currently on your night stand?

“The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism,” by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Who is your favorite novelist of all time? And your favorite novelist writing today?

Leo Tolstoy for all time; Edward Rutherfurd or Ruth Rendell for living authors.

What books on the law would you most recommend to the general reader? And to a student of law?

Ken Manaster’s “The American Legal System and Civic Engagement” to the general reader; Leon Green’s “Judge and Jury” for law students.