The Pursuit of Justice Supreme Court Decisions that Shaped America

by Hall, Kermit L.; Patrick, John J.

• ISBN13: 9780195311891
• ISBN10: 0195311892
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-12-01
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

With a survey of the thirty Supreme Court cases that, in the opinion of U.S. Supreme Court justices and leading civics educators and legal historians, are the most important for American citizens to understand, The Pursuit of Justice is the perfect companion for those wishing to learn more about American civics and government. The cases range across three centuries of American history, including such landmarks as Marbury v. Madison (1803), which established the principle of judicial review; Scott v. Sandford (1857), which inflamed the slavery argument in the United States and led to the Civil War; Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which memorialized the concept of separate but equal; and Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which overturned Plessy. Dealing with issues of particular concern to students, such as voting, school prayer, search and seizure, and affirmative action, and broad democratic concepts such as separation of powers, federalism, and separation of church and state, the book covers all the major cases specified in the national and state civics and American history standards. For each case, there is an introductory essay providing historical background and legal commentary as well as excerpts from the decision(s); related documents such as briefs or evidence, with headnotes and/or marginal commentary, some possibly in facsimile; and features or sidebars on principal players in the decisions, whether attorneys, plaintiffs, defendants, or justices. An introductory essay defines the criteria for selecting the cases and setting them in the context of American history and government, and a concluding essay suggests the role that the Court will play in the future.

Table of Contents

Introduction : the Supreme Court as a mirror of America	p. 6
The rise of judicial review	p. 14
Marbury v. Madison
The national bank and federalism	p. 25
McCullch V. Maryland
Steamboats, states' rights, and the powers of Congress	p. 34
Gibbons v. Ogden
Denying an appeal for freedom	p. 42
Scott v. Sandford
Civil liberties and the Civil War	p. 51
Ex parte Milligan
Separate but not equal	p. 59
Plessy v. Ferguson
The rights of labor and the rights of women	p. 67
Lochner v. New York
Muller v. Oregon
The latitude and limits of free speech	p. 77
Schenck v. United States
Abrams v. United States
Affirming the new deal	p. 85
West Coast Hotel v. Parrish
The flag-salute cases	p. 95
Minersville School District v. Gobitis
West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette
Internment of Japanese Americans during World War II	p. 104
Hirabayashi v. United States
Korematsu v. United States
A decision to limit presidential power	p. 113
Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer
Public school desegregation	p. 121
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
Establishing equality in voting and representation	p. 134
Baker v. Carr
Reynolds v. Sims
Freedom of the press in a free society	p. 141
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan
Finding a right to privacy	p. 150
Griswold v. Connecticut
The right to remain silent	p. 158
Miranda v. Arizona
Freedom of speech in public schools	p. 165
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District
Standards for interpreting the establishment clause	p. 172
Lemon v. Kurtzman
Abortion, privacy, and values in conflict	p. 179
Roe v. Wade
Presidential immunity and the watergate crisis	p. 192
United States v. Nixon
Affirmative action and the boundaries of discrimination	p. 203
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
The judicial path to the White House	p. 213
Epilogue : "we are all slaves of the law"	p. 224
An annotated list of important Supreme Court decisions	p. 228
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.