We the Students: Supreme Court Cases For and About Students

by Jamin B. Raskin

In this CQ Press best-selling title, Jamin Raskin presents constitutional cases about sex and censorship, school vouchers, affirmative action, religion in schools, discrimination, drug use, and freedom of speech and thought, while placing educational emphasis on constitutional knowledge, critical thinking, persuasive argument, and values clarification. For this third edition, CQ Press worked directly with educators to retain the best features of the previous editions while updating and further refining the material. The books freshly updated design facilitates student comprehension with new features such as legal definitions in the margin, a Dissenting Voices section to provide context for minority judicial opinions, new exercises, and much more.

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy

352 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2000

About the author

Jamie Raskin is a professor of Law at American University's Washington College of Law. He teaches Constitutional Law, the First Amendment, and Legislative Process and is the Director of the Program on Law and Government. Professor Raskin also worked with Professor Steve Wermiel to found the acclaimed Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project and is also a State Senator in Maryland.

Reviews

[Mehraz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid teaching tool

[Brandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book for classrooms or research. Well-organized, current, and relevant, and includes the actual text (edited for brevity/clarity) of the decisions of the Supreme Court, and in most cases also includes dissenting opinions. Very balanced, no obvious agenda one way or the other. Presents cases on a variety of issues relevant to students: freedom of speech, dress codes, discrimination, privacy, locker searches, etc.

Can't speak to how it compares to previous editions (I can't track down the second edition) but it does include references to things that happened as recently as late 2007. Not the most engaging book I've read (or skimmed), but an important book to have around for government classes.

[Scott Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book to introduce a beginner to the Constitution and basic government functions. Cases are trimmed down to a page or two. I am teaching this to kids with a reading comprehension skill between 3-5 grade. With help, these young men and women can understand most of what is written. A great book for those beginners.

[Fenixbird SandS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful discussion of case law (Court rulings) impacting a specified area of civil rights as related to the classroom..including freedom of speech implications! [recommended to me by my student teacher mentor)