Cases and Materials on Constitutional Law

To view or download the 2018 Supplement to this book, click here.

This casebook is mostly traditional in approach. It begins with judicial review, deals next with legislative and executive powers, and contains coverage of individual rights in the latter half. The landmark cases, from Marbury v. Madison to Brown v. Board of Education to Bush v. Gore and beyond, are present. Though traditional in approach, Cases and Materials on Constitutional Law includes many unique features to create an accessible yet stimulating learning experience for the student of Constitutional Law. Distinct features of this casebook include:

• Inclusion of actual litigation documents from constitutional cases;
• Full text of the Constitution placed at the beginning of the book to encourage students to read it;
• Prefatory chapter presenting a short history of the Constitution;
• Numerous problems based on cutting-edge issues;
• A brief chapter on state constitutional law; and
• A concise chapter on the Second Amendment that provides an excellent opportunity for student interpretation in light of the relative scarcity of court opinions in this nevertheless socially significant area.

The authors aim to make the fundamentals easy for students to grasp so that professors can devote more class time to more interesting issues. Complex chapters are introduced by text that gives students a "road map" of the issues. Cases are edited with student comprehension in mind, with explanations of difficult principles inserted in brackets.

The Sixth Edition has the following new features:

• Coverage of the Supreme Court's decisions through 2013.
• Expanded coverage of developing areas, such as Free Speech (United States v. Stevens), Gay Rights (United States v. Windsor), Congressional Powers (Sebelius and Shelby County) and our Chapter on Second Amendment Rights.
• Expanded and revised Notes.
• Generally, maintained traditional structure and concise presentation format. (This is a "readable" book for students.)
• Expanded and revised Problems, often based on real cases.
• Revised Appendices (a popular feature of the casebook since the first edition).
• The continued inclusion of "practice" insights and suggestions for litigation and settlement of constitutional cases.

This book also is available in a three-hole punched, alternative loose-leaf version printed on 8.5 x 11 inch paper with wider margins and with the same pagination as the hardbound book.