Customer Reviews

Constitutional Law 2005 (Emanuel Law Outlines)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book offers law students with a time saving alternative to piecing together the 120+ cases in your textbook to form a picture of Constitutional Law.

Unlike your law professor, the author of this book does not play hide the ball. The relevant Constitutional Law issues and conclusions are clearly identified with no tricks, answerless hypotheticals, or the shameful deceptions that you are likely to find in a Constitutional Law textbook.

The book is well organized and written in a way that you can easily come up with the "black letter law" and modes of argument so that you can be successful in your class.

This book's coverage is very broad; it can be used for both Constitutional Law and Constitutional Rights classes.

It has a "Capsule Summary" that briefly explains the major points that the book will cover. I read over the Capsule Summary and found it very helpful in creating a framework that helped me understand everything in detail throughout the rest of the book.

Emanuel has already peiced the cases together for you. You can figure out what the common state of Constitutional Law very quickly. This is very helpful if your professor is going to give you an issue-spotter/essay test.

I am very pleased with the experience that I had with this book (2005 edition). I rarely went to my Constitutional Law class and never did any of the readings. I studied this book in the days leading up to the final exam and scored in the top 10% of the class! If I could do this, then it is not too far fetched to believe that a diligent/more intelligent student would have even more impressive results.

This book is a great companion book for any of the texts (or any courses you may take) on Con Law. In fact, at this late date in the semester, I am using it exclusive of the required text and it is getting me to all the necessary points. Highly recommended.

This book is worth its weight in gold. I have used it in two classes (and I should be using it to prepare for my Con Law II exam now, rather than writing this review). It includes thorough case summaries, many of which include concurrences and dissents. Ties the cases together in a way that highlights each case's significance. The case summaries are the most useful during classes, but when it comes time for exams, it includes topical outlines, "capsule summaries," exam tips, study questions, literally everything you could possibly want in a study aid. I could kiss Stephen L. Emanuel. I should probably include that I got the highest grade in my Constitutional Law I class. Obviously you still need to read and pay attention in class, but this book really helps to clarify constitutional law, which can often be a very muddy subject.

This is an amazing supplement. I knew next to nothing about the Constitution when this class began. After the class started, I was completely lost for about 4-5 weeks especially since our class, like most, was letting students ramble on without any clear points. I bought the case briefs but they were only good for providing case summaries. I bought Chemerinsky and while I love that book, it isn't exactly what you need for a law school exam. But after getting this supplement, everything changed.

I went from knowing next to nothing about the Constitution to being extremely comfortable in the class discussions. This book summarizes concepts, it clarifies the differences between cases, it provides clear guidance as to the history of the law's development, and most importantly, it provides a brief summary of the significance of the cases and a good summary of the state of the law as it exists today (which is what you really need for the exam). it dedicates a lot of time to equal protection and substantive due process and explains all of those cases in an easily-understood format. And amazingly, it gives you great guidance as to areas of case analysis that your professor will likely explore like the significance of social sciences in the Brown v. Board of Education case. But none of that is even the best part of this book...

The best part of this book is it's assistance as a study guide. It points out common areas where you are likely to be tested (standing, affirmative action, abortion) and for me, it even gave me advance warning on a specific exam question, namely, how much the law has changed regarding abortion since the Casey decision. When I saw that question on my exam, I just laughed. Not sure what my grade will be in ConLaw but it's the best exam performance I have ever had.

I had difficulty with Con Law during the semester so when it came to making my own outline to study for the final, I did not know where to begin. I've used Emanuel outlines in the past and so I figured I might as well try this one out. It was a true life-saver! It provided a great framework in how to construct your own outline and provides a clear understanding of the law. It will even go into detail on some of the major cases. It really guided me throughout my studies and I would recommend it to anyone who needs help with framing their own Con Law outline.

I used Emanual for con law and criminal law in law school and loved it because the content is great and the text is larger than all those tiny words you see in the horn books and doing research with a laptop. Sometimes bigger is definitely better.

Mary Masi, Esq.
[...]

this book has been very useful in my preparation for final exams. i definitely recommend it.

This outline was not very helpful. The "black letter" constitutional law - assuming there is such a thing - is not clearly presented. Instead the author presents summary after summary of constitutional principles and case law. It is basically a cliffs notes version of a constitutional law case book. There are relatively few clear lists of "factor tests" or elements of a rule/decision to help you study. Sometimes the author will even place holdings in particular cases in a bold font, as if to emphasize that it is a general constitutional principle, when in fact the holding was based on the facts of the particular case. If you are already proficient at issue spotting and analysis this outline will not be useful to you.

Used the Emanuel Constitutional Law outline to prepare me for my constitutional law course at the University of Puerto Rico Law School. Was useful but other material specific to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Constitution was also of importance and not available in the book.

This has been enormous help for my Constitutional class, it's not a replacement for the text book but it's a good supplement, highly recommended.