May It Please the Court: The Most Significant Oral Arguments Made Before the Supreme Court Since 1955

by Peter Irons, Stephanie Guitton (Editor)

Until The New Press first published May It Please the Court in 1993, few Americans knew that every case argued before the Supreme Court since 1955 had been recorded. The original book-and-tape set was a revelation to readers and reviewers, quickly becoming a bestseller and garnering praise across the nation.
May It Please the Court includes both live recordings and transcripts of oral arguments in twenty-three of the most significant cases argued before the Supreme Court in the second half of the twentiethcentury. This edition makes the recordings available on an MP3 audio CD. Through the voices of some of the nation’s most important lawyers and justices, including Thurgood Marshall, Archibald Cox, and Earl Warren, it offers a chance to hear firsthand our justice system at work, in the highest court of the land.
Cases Gideon v. Wainwright (right to counsel) Abington School District v. Schempp (school prayer) Miranda v. Arizona (“the right to remain silent”) Roe v. Wade (abortion rights) Edwards v. Aguillard (teaching “creationism”) Regents v. Bakke (reverse discrimination) Wisconsin v. Yoder (compulsory schooling for the Amish) Tinker v. Des Moines (Vietnam protest in schools) Texas v. Johnson (flag burning) New York Times v. United States (Pentagon Papers) Cox v. Louisiana (civil rights demonstrations) Communist Party v. Subversive Activities Control Board (freedom of association) Terry v. Ohio (“stop and frisk” by police) Gregg v. Georgia (capital punishment) Cooper v. Aaron (Little Rock school desegregation) Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (public accommodations) Palmer v. Thompson (swimming pool integration) Loving v. Virginia (interracial marriage) San Antonio v. Rodriguez (equal funding for public schools) Bowers v. Hardwick (homosexual rights) Baker v. Carr (“one person, one vote”) United States v. Nixon (Watergate tapes) DeShaney v. Winnebago County (child abuse)

Genres: Law, History, Nonfiction, American History

400 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1993

About the author

The author of several books on the U.S. Supreme Court and constitutional litigation, Peter H. Irons is an American political activist, civil rights attorney, legal scholar, and Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego.

Reviews

[Pooja A]

4.5

[Ethan Unklesbay]

This is a great reference work, compiling into one place some of the most landmark cases the US Supreme Court has ever faced.
I struggled a bit with the editing of the transcripts, and the "Narrator" jumps in occasionally, sometimes with useful information, sometimes not.

[Steven Yenzer]

Reading transcriptions of oral arguments is dry, but the editing and narration make this as interesting as it can be. I think I'd prefer to listen to the documentary series that this was based on, but it was still a good read.

[Sean]

Great for what it is. Best when used in conjunction with a better summary of the Majority and Dissenting opinions.