Constitutional Law: Principles and Policies (Aspen's Introduction to Law Series) [Paperback]

Erwin Chemerinsky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2002 | ISBN-10: 0735524289 | ISBN-13: 978-0735524286 | Edition: 2nd

Constitutional Law: Principles and Policies (Aspen's Introduction to Law Series) [Paperback] Erwin Chemerinsky

Product Details

• Paperback: 1276 pages
• Publisher: Aspen Law & Business; 2nd edition (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735524289
• ISBN-13: 978-0735524286
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 7 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #454,793 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Erwin Chemerinsky is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Southern California Law Center.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

91 of 99 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really understand Con Law (and help your grade, too), April 24, 2003

By 

Steve Sanders "Steve Sanders" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Constitutional Law: Principles and Policies (Aspen's Introduction to Law Series) (Paperback)

A central problem with teaching law by the casebook method is that most students also need a clear, expert roadmap of how the cases fit together, and how a particular doctrine that emerges from a line of cases -- sometimes over a century or more -- has evolved, changed, and operates today. Outlines of the black letter law (e.g. Gilberts) aren't as useful for something doctrinal like con law. You want clear exposition in prose. You want concise descriptions of all the important cases and what they stand for. You want Chemerinsky.

All con law students should be grateful that one of the nation's leading Constitutional practitioners and professors has written this book. Its size is intimidating, but that's because it covers far more territory than the typical intro con law class. It's so well-done, though, that it's something serious students and lawyers will want on their bookshelves long after the first year -- as a supplement for advanced-topics classes, and as an essential reference work.

The book is well-organized in an outline format with headings and subheads, so you can easily follow the thread of complex doctrine over time, like the Commerce Clause, or across its varied applications, like Equal Protection. Chapters are thorough but well divided. The organization allows you to find exactly what you need and to zero in on a particular narrow point or case, or to read more expansively about a doctrine's development, change, and varied application. Chemerinsky's prose is neutral, straightforward, always clear. He's analytical but doesn't make arguments. You couldn't say his writing has personality, but it is quite readable.

This book is the con law supplement of choice at my school (Michigan). No one I know has regretted buying it.

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most valuable study aide of ALL TIME, October 19, 2004

By 

2L (Sycamore, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Constitutional Law: Principles and Policies (Aspen's Introduction to Law Series) (Paperback)

This is probably the best money I spent my first year of law school. I am still using this book for Con Law II in my second year of school, and it is still just as invaluable to me. For Constitutional Law, canned briefs like legal lines do you no good. You need someone to spell out the principles and the analysis. No one does this as well as Chemerinsky. I could probably name at least 10 other students at school who ordered this book after they saw my copy. My text book for Constitutional Law is a piece of crap, and I would not learn anything if it were not for Chemerinsky. I have a different teacher for my second semester of Con Law, and he teaches verbatim from this book. My first Con Law professor was so impressed from a comment I made in class through something I had read in Chemerinsky that she came up to me after class and thanked me for helping further the class discussion. She was so impressed that I didn't want to tell her I was a fraud! I credit my final grade for Con Law I to Chemerinsky as well.

I know the price for this study aide is a little higher than some of the others, but you will get to use it for at least two semesters. I also heard it is helpful if you take a class on the First Amendment.

Other study aides I bought were barely opened. This one was read more than my text book!

(I never bother to write reviews. That is how pleased I am with how much this book helped me.)

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Con Law is suddenly clear to me now!, February 9, 2003

By 

Anneke H. Niemira "voracious reader" (Fairfax, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Constitutional Law: Principles and Policies (Aspen's Introduction to Law Series) (Paperback)

My Con Law prof is using Sullivan's "Constitutional Law" (14th Ed., University Casebook Series) as our textbook, and our entire class is overwhelmed by both the concepts and the density of the reading (it takes four hours to read 25 pages!).

Then I picked up this book by Chemerinksy, which recommended by our professor. It's /amazing/. We're working on the dormant commerce clause, and Chemerinsky sets out everything incredibly clearly, citing cases (rather than including the entire case itself) and setting out black letter law in an explanation of the Court's rulings. Everything is much easier to understand, and it's much easier to pick out the important issues in the textbook when I read the next assignment. I recommend reading Chemerinsky first, and the textbook second, so the rules pop out at you more readily.