A Year in the Life of the Supreme Court

Book Overview

Despite its importance to the life of the nation and all its citizens, the Supreme Court remains a mystery to most Americans, its workings widely felt but rarely seen firsthand. In this book, journalists who cover the Court-acting as the eyes and ears of not just the American people, but the Constitution itself-give us a rare close look into its proceedings, the people behind them, and the complex, often fascinating ways in which justice is ultimately served. Their narratives form an intimate account of a year in the life of the Supreme Court.
The cases heard by the Surpreme Court are, first and foremost, disputes involving real people with actual stories. The accidents and twists of circumstance that have brought these people to the last resort of litigation can make for compelling drama. The contributors to this volume bring these dramatic stories to life, using them as a backdrop for the larger issues of law and social policy that constitute the Court's business: abortion, separation of church and state, freedom of speech, the right of privacy, crime, violence, discrimination, and the death penalty. In the course of these narratives, the authors describe the personalities and jurisprudential leanings of the various Justices, explaining how the interplay of these characters and theories about the Constitution interact to influence the Court's decisions.
Highly readable and richly informative, this book offers an unusually clear and comprehensive portrait of one of the most influential institutions in modern American life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 082231665X
• ISBN13: 9780822316657
• Release Date: July 1995
• Publisher: Duke University Press
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.9" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Outstanding Work on the Supreme Court from the Inside...

In our check and balances system of government, the three branches -- Presidency, Legislative, and Judicial -- are equal in might and stature. To many this may not appear to be the case. Part of this is due to the intense media attention the Presidency and Congress enjoy. Part of this is also due to misconceptions within the public about the role of the judiciary in general and the Supreme Court specifically. In the outstanding A Year in the Life of the Supreme Court, editor Rodney Smolla -- a professor of law at William and Mary College -- has put together a work that should go a long way towards educating the public. This collection of essays by experienced Supreme Court observers concentrates on the 1992-1993 term of the Court. While other terms may have had bigger cases that the public would recognize, several fundamental issues were addressed by the Court. For example, how does one balance the issue of free speech and access to protected services in the case of abortion? How much discretion does law enforcement have in searching an individual without probable cause? Does Title IX allow an individual to sue for monetary damages? Does Brown vs. the Board of Education require Mississippi to equalize its state-run university system? Can hateful speech lead to additional punishments when done in concert with another crime? In each of the cases chosen for review, the method by which the case reached the Supreme Court is detailed giving the case the human component that each has initially (and is sometimes eventually lost). In addition, a justice who was pivotal in the resulting decision is highlighted along with a good explanation of the constitutional issues. For a reader interested in understanding the Supreme Court1s function in our society, A Year in the Life of the Supreme Court is not only a good introduction, it is a definitive profile of the Court from the perspective of a trained observer and should not be missed.