Customer Reviews

The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions

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This work contains synopses of the most important US Supreme Court cases in US history. One can critize the level of detail given in each case, but I decided most cases were presented in about the right amount of detail for a cursory understanding. In some respects the volume has been supplanted by Google on the internet, but I found that it was relatively easy to find a case if I knew the general subject or the plaintiff's name. The index was not complete, and that was a serious deficiency given that this was intended to be a work of ready reference.

Other features that were particularly useful included the glossary of terms, mostly legal, the inclusion of the Constitution for reference, the nominations and succession of justices, appointments by each president, and other references by legal topic. Here, my only criticism was that there was no list of references on the history of Common Law going back in England and containing works covering the development of citizenship and legal institutions under Common Law. For some reason, these subject continue to be a complete mystery to American lawyers to our great misfortune.

Frankly, this volume should be on the shelf for every American interested in politics, democracy, and the American republic. The topics contained within have attained enormous importance over time, and many of these cases should be well-known to American voters.

I highly recommend this book to all. One could much worse than starting at the front and reading through the volume from cover to cover. That might sound extreme, but there are simply so many things that citizens need to know that such action is probably necessary. After reading the Bible, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, everyone should read this book. In fact, it probably should be required for high school graduation.