American Constitutional Law, Volume I

by Ralph Rossum, G. Alan Tarr, Vincent Phillip Munoz

American Constitutional Law 11e, Volume I provides a comprehensive account of the nation's defining document, examining how its provisions were originally understood by those who drafted and ratified it, and how they have since been interpreted by the Supreme Court, Congress, the President, lower federal courts, and state judiciaries. Clear and accessible chapter introductions and a careful balance between classic and recent cases provide students with a sense of how the law has been understood and construed over the years. The 11th Edition has been fully revised to include several new cases, including Trump v. Hawaii (2018), in which Chief Justice Roberts held that Korematsu v. United States "has been overruled in the court of history"; Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association (2018), in which Justice Alito’s majority opinion provides the most compelling argument to date against federal commandeering of state officials; and Sveen v. Melin (2018), a Contract Clause case that shows the Court’s continuing refusal to give a textualist reading of that provision, even in the face of Justice Gorsuch’s compelling and amusing dissent. A revamped and expanded companion website offers access to even more additional cases, an archive of primary documents, and links to online resources, making this text essential for any constitutional law course.

Genres: Nonfiction

628 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 1998

Reviews

[Hannah MacLean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great overview of the American Government. Because it's mainly composed of Supreme Court cases, there's a lot of digging involved; the information isn't just handed to the reader on a silver platter.

[Beckie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't read the whole thing, but I read enough of it for grad school to consider it a read book.