American Constitutional Law 11e, Volume I provides a comprehensive account of the nation's defining document, examining how its provisions were originally understood by those who drafted and ratified it, and how they have since been interpreted by the Supreme Court, Congress, the President, lower federal courts, and state judiciaries. Clear and accessible chapter introductions and a careful balance between classic and recent cases provide students with a sense of how the law has been understood and construed over the years.

The 11th Edition has been fully revised to include several new cases, including Trump v. Hawaii (2018), in which Chief Justice Roberts held that Korematsu v. United States "has been overruled in the court of history"; Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association (2018), in which Justice Alito's majority opinion provides the most compelling argument to date against federal commandeering of state officials; and Sveen v. Melin (2018), a Contract Clause case that shows the Court's continuing refusal to give a textualist reading of that provision, even in the face of Justice Gorsuch's compelling and amusing dissent. A revamped and expanded companion website offers access to even more additional cases, an archive of primary documents, and links to online resources, making this text essential for any constitutional law course.

About the Author

Ralph A. Rossum is Henry Salvatori Professor of American Constitutionalism at Claremont McKenna College. He earned his PhD from the University of Chicago and is the author of several books, including The Supreme Court and Tribal Gaming: California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians (2011); Antonin Scalia's Jurisprudence: Text and Tradition (2006); Federalism, the Supreme Court, and the Seventeenth Amendment: The Irony of Constitutional Democracy (2001); Congressional Control of the Judiciary: The Article III Option (1988); The American Founding: Politics, Statesmanship, and the Constitution (1981); Reverse Discrimination: The Constitutional Debate (1979); and The Politics of the Criminal Justice System: An Organizational Analysis (1978). He has served in the US Department of Justice as deputy director of its Bureau of Justice Statistics and as a board member of its National Institute of Corrections. He recently served as a member of the California Advisory Committee, US Commission on Civil Rights.

G. Alan Tarr is Board of Governors Professor Emeritus and the founder and former Director of the Center for State Constitutional Studies at Rutgers University in Camden, New Jersey. He received his doctorate from the University of Chicago. Professor Tarr is the author of several books, including Judicial Process and Judicial Policymaking (6th edition, 2013), Without Fear or Favor: Judicial Independence and Judicial Accountability in the States (2012), Understanding State Constitutions (1998), and State Supreme Courts in State and Nation (1988). He is coeditor of the three-volume State Constitutions for the Twenty-First Century (2005), Constitutional Dynamics in Federal Systems: Subnational Perspectives (2012), Constitutional Origins, Structure, and Change in Federal Countries (2005), and several other volumes. Three times the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and more recently a Fulbright Fellow, Professor Tarr has served as a consultant to the US Department of State, the American Bar Association, the National Center for State Courts, and several state governments. He has lectured on American constitutionalism and federalism throughout the United States, as well as in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America.

Vincent Phillip Munoz is Tocqueville Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Program of Constitutional Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He received his BA from Claremont McKenna College, MA from Boston College, and Ph.D. from The Claremont Graduate School. Professor Munoz is author of God and the Founders: Madison, Washington, and Jefferson (2009) and editor of Religious Liberty and the American Supreme Court: The Essential Cases and Documents (revised edition, 2015).

Reviews

Praise for American Constitutional Law:

"This casebook is ideal for undergraduate classes in constitutional law. The case selection thoughtfully balances the old and new; the editing of cases is done with precision and care. The editors' introductory essays are models of clarity, organization, and focus on the crucial problems of constitutional interpretation. The essays are attentive to doctrinal details without losing sight of the Constitution as a whole. The supporting website provides a rich source of recent and earlier decisions that provide flexibility for instructors. American Constitutional Law is, in sum, the class of its class."

G. Roger McDonald, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

"These volumes are a sound, balanced introduction into the study of Constitutional Law. The abridged cases are substantive but still accessible to the average undergraduate student and provide a solid basis for gaining a foothold in the discipline and for generating vigorous discussion and debate on the case law."

Darren Patrick Guerra, Biola University

"An excellent set of volumes for teaching constitutional law to undergraduates. The approach is both scholarly and highly accessible. It is also organized in a way that gives instructors the flexibility to formulate their own approach to teaching constitutional law."

Michael Zarkin, Westminster College

"An excellent two-volume Constitutional Law case book with sophisticated introductions."

Saul Brenner, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

"Its greatest strengths are threefold. First, the case excerpts are ideal for undergraduate students who are being exposed to the reading of case law for the first time and who are not familiar with legal nomenclature. ... The second great virtue of the book is that the introductory sections of each chapter, which precede the case law, succinctly summarize the law, history, and politics related to the cases that students are about to encounter. These introductions do an excellent job setting the context for the case law. ... The third great virtue of the text is that the editors do as good a job as any constitutional law text tying the case law to what the framers of the constitutional provisions at issue had to say. This allows students to understand the original meaning of the Constitution in a way they might seldom appreciate with other textbooks that disregard or object to such approaches to constitutional law."

Anthony A. Peacock, Utah State University

Book Information
ISBN 9780367233334
Author Ralph Rossum
Format Paperback
Page Count 610
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 1156g