The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions (Hardcover)

by Kermit L. Hall (Editor) "Abington School District v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963), argued 27-28 Feb. 1963, decided 17 June 1963 by vote of 8 to 1; Clark for..." (more)
Key Phrases: private racial discrimination, seriatim opinions, federal commerce power, United States, Fourteenth Amendment, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

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

From Library Journal
Ohio State dean and history/law professor Hall has assembled a stellar panel of experts to distill the essence of 440 key Supreme Court decisions. The cases are discussed in alphabetical order, with each ruling placed in its historical context. The true value of the book is that the contributors take a case like Brown v. Board of Education and provide a nontechnical, well-written explanation of its significance?and manage to do so in three pages of text. In the case of Brown, the contributor, a University of Chicago law professor, provides fascinating details such as citations from Chief Justice Earl Warren's memoirs on how the decisions were written. In some cases, additional references are cited for further research. The book includes a case index, a topical index, the Constitution of the United States, an appendix listing the Justices, and a glossary of legal terms. An impressive accomplishment, this guide will be invaluable to all students of United States history and will also appeal to sophisticated readers. For all public libraries.?Harry Charles, Attorney at Law, St. Louis
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (April 8, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195118839
• ISBN-13: 978-0195118834
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #970,209 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic work of reference -- but index is faulty, February 27, 2000

By	Werner Cohn (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I found this work fantastically helpful in locating and reading the gist of all the important cases that the Supreme Court has decided. Just a little complaint, however: the index of cases, said to be complete, is not. Loewe v. Lawlor, described on p. 163, for instance, is not listed in the index of cases. Unfortunately, I also found a few other cases which, though treated in the book, are inexplicably missing from this index.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Introduction Book, February 11, 2006

By	Christopher J. Sugar "1L Law Student" (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions (Paperback)

This 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 court decisions. It even offers a glossary for law jargon, the American constitution and the succession of the justices of the Supreme court.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A mini-encyclopedia of Supreme Court decisions., October 7, 2005

By	zonaras (Jimbo's House of Pie) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions (Paperback)

_The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions_ (Kermit Hall, ed.) is a decent reference source on Supreme Court cases. It contains a fair amount of basic info on the cases it covers, their historical background and how the decisions were reached. The entries in this book are by no means extensive, comprehensive or authoritative. Some of the cases were, disappointingly, covered in far too cursory a manner. I wanted to use this book as a side reference for a Con Law (Separation of Powers and Federalism) class in which I am currently enrolled. It has been of use for understanding some of the more densely written cases (i.e., the ones written by Rehnquist and O'Conner) but I was expecting a book which goes into more detail. Also, the double columns of type, dark colored paper and extremely small font size make reading anything inside somewhat of an unnecessary strain. However, I still recommend this book as a reference for the topic.