Great Cases in Constitutional Law

Slavery, segregation, abortion, workers' rights, the power of the courts. These issues have been at the heart of the greatest constitutional controversies in American history. And in this concise and thought-provoking volume, some of today's most distinguished legal scholars and commentators explain for a general audience how five landmark Supreme Court cases centered on those controversies shaped the country's destiny and continue to affect us even now. The book is a profound exploration of the Supreme Court's importance to America's social and political life. It is also, as many of the contributors show, an intriguing reflection of what some have seen as an important trend in legal scholarship away from an uncritical belief in the essentially benign nature of judicial power.

Robert George opens with an illuminating survey of the themes that unite and divide the five cases. Other contributors then examine each case in detail through a lively commentary-and-response format. Mark Tushnet and Jeremy Waldron exchange views on Marbury v. Madison, the pivotal 1803 case that established the power of the courts to invalidate legislation. Cass Sunstein and James McPherson discuss Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), the notorious case that confirmed the rights of slaveowners, declared that black people could not be American citizens, and is often seen as a cause of the Civil War. Hadley Arkes and Donald Drakeman explore the legacy of Lochner v. New York (1905), a case that ushered in decades of judicial hostility to social welfare laws. Earl Maltz and Walter Murphy assess Brown v. Topeka Board of Education (1954), the famous case that ended racial segregation in public schools. Finally, Jean Bethke Elshtain and George Will tackle Roe v. Wade (1973), still a flashpoint a quarter of a century later in the debate over abortion. While some of the contributors show sympathy for strong judicial interventions on social issues, many across the ideological spectrum are sharply critical of judicial activism.

A compelling introduction to the greatest cases in U.S. constitutional law, this is also an enlightening glimpse of the state of the art in American legal scholarship.

"The United States Supreme Court is among the most important, but least understood, institutions in American life. Its decisions can profoundly affect, for good or ill, the well-being of our republic. Great Cases in Constitutional Law should be read because it will further the public's understanding of the Court's role. It is a book of many learned essays—provocative, illuminating, compelling."—William J. Bennett

"In a country where nearly every major public issue is affected by Supreme Court opinions, the Great Cases are too important to remain the preserve of legal specialists. Robert George has performed a genuine service by bringing together some of the country's leading public intellectuals to make accessible to the general reader the debates and decisions that have shaped, and continue to shape, our democratic experiment."—Mary Ann Glendon, Harvard University

"In this book, some of our most interesting contemporary constitutional thinkers attack those who look to the Supreme Court (or, for that matter, the Constitution) for ultimate resolution of our most basic political controversies—whether slavery in the past or affirmative action, abortion, or the right to die in the present. The essays are readily accessible to student and general reader alike and should provoke much-needed thought about the roles of the Constitution and the Court as its ostensible guardian."—Sanford Levinson, University of Texas, Austin

Publishers Weekly

This collection of scholarly but accessible essays (George is a professor of jurisprudence at Princeton) addresses the role of the U.S. Supreme Court in interpreting the Constitution. In its 1803 decision in Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court asserted the judiciary's province, and in fact duty, to "say what the law is," and since then the justices have regularly decided whether federal or state laws pass muster under the Constitution. Five landmark constitutional cases form the core of this book: Marbury, the Dred Scott case on slavery (one essay is by James M. McPherson), Lochner v. New York on social legislation, Brown v. Topeka Board of Education on equality in public schools and Roe v. Wade on abortion rights (essays are by Jean Bethke Elshtain and George Will). Each case is the subject of a principal essay, followed by a response purportedly written from a different perspective. The prevailing attitude is disapproval of "judicial activism," in which justices, purporting to find their personal moral views enshrined in the Constitution, invalidate acts undertaken by the people's elected representatives. The authors here either advocate "original intent" (limiting constitutional analysis to the text itself and the views of the Founders) or counsel in favor of narrow, fact-based decisions instead of broad policy pronouncements. The principal essays range in style from professorial disputation to impassioned moral advocacy. With one exception (Walter F. Murphy's response to Earl Maltz on the notion of "originalism" as it relates to the Brown decision), the writers of the responsive pieces seem to agree with, and expand upon, the ideas of the main essayists. More contrariety in point of view would have advanced the reader's understanding of how constitutional cases should be decided. Even so, this volume thoughtfully explains the views of those who advocate more of the original Constitution, and less of the Supreme Court, in American political life. (Apr.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|