Customer Reviews

Processes of Constitutional Decisionmaking: Cases and Materials (Casebook Series)

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The textbook approaches Con Law with a thorough historical perspective. It truly delivers a framework for the PROCESS of "Constitutional Decision Making."

To some extent, this book does what it says: it gives you the PROCESSES of constitutional decision making by presenting scattered material more or less chronologically. However, the organization of this book is a complete and utter failure, and is probably useless to most american law student enrolled in a constitutional law course. Law students will be tested on doctrine, not abstract historical narrative. True, the historical context in which a case is brought is of importance to understanding how and why the Court reached a decision, but this casebook elevates historical narrative at the expense of a necessary focus on the doctrinal point at issue. The book's interest in illustrating the historical evolution of Supreme Court decision making is not unimportant, but would be of much greater service to students (and professors, who all too often lack the ability to TEACH material in a class beyond their particular research interest) if the historical narrative was subdivided doctrinally. In short, rather than present ridiculous chapter headings such as "The Taney Court and the Civil War" or pointless sub-headings such as "The Cases of 1803," this book could (and should) have broken down the text into areas of law to shown students how each area of law (commerce clause, due process, equal protection, etc.) evolved and addressed particular sub-areas over time. In short, if you actually want to understand constitutional law (including it's historical revolution within a particular area), you'd be better off looking to Erwin Chemerinsky's treatise, Constitutional Law: Principles And Policies (Introduction to Law Series), which combines concise summaries of doctrinal decisions with historical narrative and, best of all, the addresses underlying tensions between cases in a way much more effective than an ambiguous case note infused with shameless citations of other authors without effective editing.

An excellent analysis of how the Justices of the Supreme Court decide whether or not a law (created by Congress or the States) is valid or not. More than just a compilation of majority, concurring and dissenting opinions, this book looks at why the decisions were made, not just what the decisions were. Well worth the money and a fine addition to the library of anyone interested in law or the legislative process.

Seriously, this book is just awful. But I guess if you're in law school there's no helping that.