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Dewey Decimal Number: 348.7348 EAN: 9780195118834 ISBN: 0195118839 Label: Oxford University Press, USA Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 448 Publication Date: April 08, 1999 Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA Studio: Oxford University Press, USA Editorial Review: Amazon.com Review: Kermit L. Hall, Dean of the College of Humanities, Executive Dean of the Colleges of the Arts and Sciences, and Professor of History and Law at Ohio State University, is well versed in American constitutional and legal history, and has a skillful touch when it comes to editing the contributions of well over 100 legal scholars (from attorneys and state supreme court justices to professors of law, political science, constitutional history, and government), producing a reference tome that invites the attention of lay legal beagles, students of American history, and practicing members of the legal profession. The first 348 pages are devoted to an alphabetically arranged presentation of more than 400 of the Supreme Court's most significant and consequential decisions, from Abington School District v. Schempp (1963, reaffirming that the establishment clause forbids public schools from sponsoring religious prayerful practices) to Zurcher v. "The Stanford Daily" (1978, ruling 5 to 3 that the Palo Alto police had violated neither the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of the press nor the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches when they obtained a warrant and inspected the offices of Stanford University's student newspaper). Each case synopsis, generally half a page to a full page in length, describes the background incident, the constitutional issues in question, a concise summary of the reasoning behind the majority and dissenting opinions, what the public reaction was, and in what ways that ruling affected future cases and laws. In addition, there's a glossary of terms, defining general legal concepts such as bail as well as less commonly known practices such as the Bad Tendency Test, an appendix containing the Constitution of the United States, another appendix covering the nominations and succession of Supreme Court justices, and an exhaustively comprehensive topical index. It's a pleasure to see a reference work that so effectively and engagingly treats the major decisions of the Supreme Court from 1789 to present. --Stephanie Gold Product Description: The Supreme Court has been the site of the great debates of American history, from child labor and prayer in the schools, to busing and abortion. The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions offers lively and insightful accounts of over four hundred of the most important cases ever argued before the Court, from Marbury v. Madison and Scott v. Sandford (the Dred Scott decision) to Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade. Here are the landmark decisions that have shaped American life, described by some of our most eminent legal scholars. Arranged alphabetically, each entry provides the United States Reports citation, the date the case was argued and decided, the vote of the Justices, who wrote the opinion for the Court, who concurred, and who dissented. More importantly, the entries feature an informative account of the particulars of the case, the legal and social background, the reasoning behind the Court's decision, and the case's impact on American society. Kermit Hall has drawn the material primarily from the acclaimed Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court, revising and updating entries where necessary, and he has written 47 new entries covering recent notable cases, including Clinton v. Jones, Reno v. Shaw, Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, and Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. FCC. The Guide also features a case index (including all cases mentioned anywhere in the text), a topical index, the Constitution of the United States, an appendix on the Justices, and a legal glossary. For anyone interested in the great controversies of our time, this invaluable book is a must read--a primer on the epic constitutional battles that have informed American life. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Good General OverviewAs a political scientist, I approached this book with a view towards understanding the social impetus and political environment surrounding a particular court decision. This is an excellent book for such an endeavor. It is probably too superficial for a legal companion but in terms of understanding the issues involved in a case, it is pretty good. Further, the overviews also cite some of the more important precedents cited by the court in a given decison as well as those decisions or statutes ... Read More Rating: - Useful reference bookThe "Oxford Guide to US Supreme Court Decisions" is not much more than that. It gives an extremely expansive overview of all US Supreme Court cases that can remotely be considered important, throughout the period of its existence. Every case contains information on the reference number, the composition of the majority, concurrence and dissents, and a summary of what the case or controversy was about by a legal scholar. The latter are sometimes a little problematic. Many cases are not ... Read More Rating:  - Oxford Guire to US Supreme Court DecisionsThis is a handy reference to quickly correlate discussions of past decisions in the many articles on supreme court actions as well as during the confirmation process. It is a good book for every supreme court watcher to have on the shelf. Rating: - Great Introduction BookThis book is perfect if you are interested in important decisions of the Supreme court but do not want to spend hours reading arguments, decisions and dissents in a civics book or findlaw. Oxford explains what happened in the case, why it is important and what the Supreme Court's decision did for American law. It is small, well bound, and for the price of the paperback it is a valuable ancillary text or primary text for any person who is interested in the law or the history of Supreme ... Read More Rating: - A helpful, big-picture summaryAs a law student, I slogged away through case books, trying to understand what a particular Supreme Court decision was about. After seeing this book, I picked it up to see if it would help put the decisions in context for me so that I could better understand the details of each case. By far, this book helped. For these important cases, the authors give you an idea of why the case was in the Supreme Court, some of the background history, the key elements of the decision, and in some cases, ... Read More |
