Because the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court tell us what the Constitution means, they can create constitutional change. For quite some time, general readers who have been interested in understanding those changes have not had a concise volume that explores major decisions in which those changes occur. Traditional casebooks used in law schools typically pay scant attention to the historical and political context in which cases are decided, as well as the motives of litigants, the involvement of interest groups, and the justices’ concerns with policy outcomes, even though all these factors are critical to understanding the Court’s decisions. Other books do address these concerns, but they almost always focus on a single policy issue rather than on a broader range of constitutional conflicts that populate the Court’s docket.In order to make a wide range of decisions more accessible, Gregg Ivers and Kevin T. McGuire commissioned twenty-two outstanding scholars to write essays on a selected series of Supreme Court cases. Chosen for their contemporary relevance, most of the cases addressed in this informative reader are from the last half-century, extending right up through Bush v. Gore and the 2003 Michigan affirmative action cases.In each of these roughly two dozen cases, the authors address a number of questions that provide readers with a deeper understanding of the Court and its policies: How did the conflict originate? What role did organized interests have in the case? What did the litigants, personally and professionally, have at stake? What was the practical result of the Court’s decision? Did the Court respond to lobbying or public opinion? These detailed historical and personal accounts in this all-new collection of essays offer engaging and illuminating perspectives on law and politics. (view table of contents)

This two-volume casebook goes beyond a simple description of legal rules to examine the social and political aspects of the litigation process and how it impacts constitutional decision-making. Volume I explores the relationship between law and politics by emphasizing the real-world impact of the Court's opinion on the operation of United States political institutions, while Volume II focuses on how court opinions impact the rights and liberties of ordinary citizens.Chapters begin with the people and politics behind a Supreme Court decision and end with a suggested reading list.Unique to this series, Chapter 2 in both volumes, "Interpreting the Constitution," describes the various approaches Supreme Court Justices use to decide cases, giving students a foundation in legal reasoning and interpretation.An extensive companion web site includes resources such as study tools, alternate case selections, case problems, and a complete list of Supreme Court updates with excerpts from the most important opinions from the 2001–2002 term.

Product Description: To Build a Wall represents the first extensive study of the effect of Jewish interest groups on church-state litigation. Ivers carefully traces the evolution of the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, and the ADL from benevolent social service agences to powerful organized interest groups active on all fronts of American politics and public affairs...read more

Product Description: This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work...read more