The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions

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 debated of American history, from child labor prayer in the schools, to busing and abortion. The Oxford Guide to Untied 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 and up-to-date official 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, Shaw v. Reno, 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.