Here's the wonderfully plain-spoken Dahlia Lithwick holding forth on what a lousy job the Chief Justice-ship really is. Tells you something of the inside workings of the Court.
Woodward's "The Brethren" is a good source of the workings of the Court; getting dated.
Edward Lazarus's more recent clerks-eye view is another (title eludes me). Good description of the divide among the justices over the death penalty, abortion, and other liberal-conservative civil war flashpoint issues, which extend from the justices to their 3 or 4 clerks apiece, tenure one year, right out of law school and the law reviews. Know-it-alls who never tried a case, but that's a trial lawyer speaking; sorry.