With its blend of accessible writing and actual excerpts from Court opinions, this book serves to explain the legal and cultural underpinnings of landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions of the past 35 years—and to illuminate how these decisions have shaped the trajectory and character of modern American society. As the nation's law defines society, society defines the law. As the nation's fundamental law, the U.S. Constitution is the overarching statement of the people's will. Interpreting the Constitution, however, is no simple task. This book examines more than 100 landmark Supreme Court cases from 1973 to the present, providing readers with insights into decisions that have had a profound impact on American politics, commerce, culture, and life. Organized categorically, this book serves readers either as a comprehensive review of modern constitutional law or as a ready reference source. It includes entries on Supreme Court decision-making regarding high-interest issues such as abortion (Roe v. Wade, 1973; Gonzales v. Carthart, 2007), climate change (Massachusetts v. EPA, 2007), voting rights (Bush v. Gore, 2000), free speech (Texas v. Johnson, 1989), the death penalty (Roper v. Simmons, 2005), immigration (Arizona v. United States, 2012), campaign financing (Citizens United v. FEC, 2010), gun control (District of Columbia v. Heller, 2008), the Affordable Care Act (National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, 2012), and gay marriage (United States v. Windsor, 2013). The book not only interprets key Court decisions but also provides critical context and perspective that makes the subject matter easier to understand and more meaningful, especially for readers without an extensive background in Constitutional law. Bibliographies are provided at the end of each case to direct those seeking to delve more deeply into specific topics.

The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.

Supreme Decisions: Great Constitutional Cases and Their Impact, covers twenty-four Supreme Court cases (twelve per volume) that have shaped American constitutional law. Interpretive chapters shed light on the nuances of each case, the individuals involved, and the social, political, and cultural context at that particular moment in history. Discussing cases from nearly every decade in a two-hundred-year span, Melvin I. Urofsky expounds on the political climate of the United States from the country's infancy through the new millennium. Featuring Marbury v. Madison, Dred Scott v. Sandford, Miranda v. Arizona, Brown v. Board of Education, and many more, this text covers foundational rulings and more recent decisions. Written with students in mind, Melvin I. Urofsky's voice offers compelling and fascinating accounts of American legal milestones.

Contains examples of laws and court cases in many areas including MIranda, drug possession, abandonment, etc.

When the first Supreme Court convened in 1790, it was so ill-esteemed that its justices frequently resigned in favor of other pursuits. John Rutledge stepped down as Associate Justice to become a state judge in South Carolina; John Jay resigned as Chief Justice to run for Governor of New York; and Alexander Hamilton declined to replace Jay, pursuing a private law practice instead. As Bernard Schwartz shows in this landmark history, the Supreme Court has indeed travelled a long and interesting journey to its current preeminent place in American life. In A History of the Supreme Court, Schwartz provides the finest, most comprehensive one-volume narrative ever published of our highest court. With impeccable scholarship and a clear, engaging style, he tells the story of the justices and their jurisprudence--and the influence the Court has had on American politics and society. With a keen ability to explain complex legal issues for the nonspecialist, he takes us through both the great and the undistinguished Courts of our nation's history. He provides insight into our foremost justices, such as John Marshall (who established judicial review in Marbury v. Madison, an outstanding display of political calculation as well as fine jurisprudence), Roger Taney (whose legacy has been overshadowed by Dred Scott v. Sanford), Oliver Wendell Holmes, Louis Brandeis, Benjamin Cardozo, and others. He draws on evidence such as personal letters and interviews to show how the court has worked, weaving narrative details into deft discussions of the developments in constitutional law. Schwartz also examines the operations of the court: until 1935, it met in a small room under the Senate--so cramped that the judges had to put on their robes in full view of the spectators. But when the new building was finally opened, one justice called it "almost bombastically pretentious," and another asked, "What are we supposed to do, ride in on nine elephants?" He includes fascinating asides, on the debate in the first Court, for instance, over the use of English-style wigs and gowns (the decision: gowns, no wigs); and on the day Oliver Wendell Holmes announced his resignation--the same day that Earl Warren, as a California District Attorney, argued his first case before the Court. The author brings the story right up to the present day, offering balanced analyses of the pivotal Warren Court and the Rehnquist Court through 1992 (including, of course, the arrival of Clarence Thomas). In addition, he includes four special chapters on watershed cases: Dred Scott v. Sanford, Lochner v. New York, Brown v. Board of Education, and Roe v. Wade. Schwartz not only analyzes the impact of each of these epoch-making cases, he takes us behind the scenes, drawing on all available evidence to show how the justices debated the cases and how they settled on their opinions. Bernard Schwartz is one of the most highly regarded scholars of the Supreme Court, author of dozens of books on the law, and winner of the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award. In this remarkable account, he provides the definitive one-volume account of our nation's highest court.

2004 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Supreme Court's unanimous decision to end segregation in public schools. Many people were elated when Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren delivered Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in May 1954, the ruling that struck down state-sponsored racial segregation in America's public schools. Thurgood Marshall, chief attorney for the black families that launched the litigation, exclaimed later, "I was so happy, I was numb." The novelist Ralph Ellison wrote, "another battle of the Civil War has been won. The rest is up to us and I'm very glad. What a wonderful world of possibilities are unfolded for the children!" Here, in a concise, moving narrative, Bancroft Prize-winning historian James T. Patterson takes readers through the dramatic case and its fifty-year aftermath. A wide range of characters animates the story, from the little-known African Americans who dared to challenge Jim Crow with lawsuits (at great personal cost); to Thurgood Marshall, who later became a Justice himself; to Earl Warren, who shepherded a fractured Court to a unanimous decision. Others include segregationist politicians like Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas; Presidents Eisenhower, Johnson, and Nixon; and controversial Supreme Court justices such as William Rehnquist and Clarence Thomas. Most Americans still see Brown as a triumph--but was it? Patterson shrewdly explores the provocative questions that still swirl around the case. Could the Court--or President Eisenhower--have done more to ensure compliance with Brown? Did the decision touch off the modern civil rights movement? How useful are court-ordered busing and affirmative action against racial segregation? To what extent has racial mixing affected the academic achievement of black children? Where indeed do we go from here to realize the expectations of Marshall, Ellison, and others in 1954?

The twenty-five years since the publication of Joseph Tussman's The Supreme Court on Church and State have witnessed renewed interest in, and often bitter controversy over the meanings and implications of the First Amendment. In revising and updating Tussman's book, Robert Alley has collected the major Supreme Court decisions on the separation of church and state to provide a comprehensive and non-partisan guide to the Court's opinions. The cases are presented in their entirety, with many essential dissenting opinions, and cover a representative sample of important issues, from interpretations of the First Amendment's establishment clause in church schools, public schools, post-secondary schools, and Sunday laws, to readings of the free exercise clause. With a historical introduction and a chart of Supreme Court Justices' votes, this book is an important reference on a timely subject.