The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195058356 ISBN 13: 9780195058352

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1992

Synopsis

In Democracy in America, De Tocqueville observed that there is hardly a political question in the United States which does not sooner or later turn into a judicial one. Two hundred years of American history have certainly born out the truth of this remark. Whether a controversy is political, economic, or social, whether it focuses on child labor, slavery, prayer in public schools, war powers, busing, abortion, business monopolies, or capital punishment, eventually the battle is taken to court. And the ultimate venue for these vital struggles is the Supreme Court. Indeed, the Supreme Court is a prism through which the entire life of our nation is magnified and illuminated, and through which we have defined ourselves as a people.
Now, in The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States, readers have a rich source of information about one of the central institutions of American life. Everything one would want to know about the Supreme Court is here, in more than a thousand alphabetically arranged entries. There are biographies of every justice who ever sat on the Supreme Court (with pictures of each) as well as entries on rejected nominees and prominent judges (such as Learned Hand), on presidents who had an important impact on--or conflict with--the Court (including Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt), and on other influential figures (from Alexander Hamilton to Cass Gilbert, the architect of the Supreme Court Building). More than four hundred entries examine every major case that the court has decided, from Marbury v. Madison (which established the Court's power to declare federal laws unconstitutional) and Scott v. Sandford (the Dred Scott Case) to Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade. In addition, there are extended essays on the major issues that have confronted the Court (from slavery to national security, capital punishment to religion, from affirmative action to the Vietnam War), entries on judicial matters and legal terms (ranging from judicial review and separation of powers to amicus brief and habeas corpus), articles on all Amendments to the Constitution, and an extensive, four-part history of the Court. And as in all Oxford Companions, the contributors combine scholarship with engaging insight, giving us a sense of the personality and the inner workings of the Court. They examine everything from the wanderings of the Supreme Court (the first session was held on the second floor of the Royal Exchange Building in New York City, and the Court at times has met in a Congressional committee room, a tavern, a rented house, and finally, in 1935, its own building), to the Jackson-Black Feud and the clouded resignation of Abe Fortas, to the Supreme Court's press room and the paintings and sculptures adorning the Supreme Court building.
The decisions of the Supreme Court have touched--and will continue to influence--every corner of American society. A comprehensive, authoritative guide to the Supreme Court, this volume is an essential reference source for everyone interested in the workings of this vital institution and in the multitude of issues it has confronted over the course of its history.

About this title

About the Author:

About the Editors:
Kermit L. Hall (Editor in Chief) is Dean of the College of Humanities at Ohio State University. Editors are James W. Ely, Jr., Professor of Law and History at Vanderbilt University; Joel B. Grossman, Professor of Political Science and Law at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; and William M. Wiecek, Chester Adgate Congdon Professor of Public Law and Legislation and Professor of History at Syracuse University.

Review:

"A useful compendium of information about our highest court. The information contained within its thousand ppages ranges from biographical information to case annotations. This is the perfect gift for Constitutional Law enthusiasts."--The Cardozo Law Forum

"Captures all the drama and history that is the Supreme Court, including narratives on the Court's processes, practice procedures, and personalities, and specific entries on 400 of the Court's most significant decisions."--Legal Times

"Describes the justices, linchpin cases, recurrent issues, legal principles and procedures, Constitution, laws, and internal operations of the land's highest court."--Wilson Library Bulletin

"A landmark publication, representing the highest standard of American scholarship."--School Library Journal

"You can't go wrong with this vast new reference book to the U.S. Supreme Court."--California Lawyer

"This convenient and authoritative guide to the Supreme Court succeeds well in accomplishing its goal of providing a political, economic, cultural, and legal history of the Court and, by extension, of the very country itself....The companion is a unique work....The Oxford Companion to the
Supreme Court of the United States belongs in every library, high school and up, and on the shelf of the practitioner and the teacher. It will prove to be the standard reference work on the Supreme Court."--Booklist

"This obviously impressive and highly needed collection of over 1000 entries on the Supreme Court is sure to become the standard in the field....This fine volume is a must-have collection for any serious student of the court....Its organization is first rate and its scope is all-encompassing.
Highly recommended."--Library Journal

"For anyone interested in the Court, a dictionary of cases, Justices, and trivia you'd want to know. A great resource for your bookshelf!"--Nina Totenberg, Legal Affairs Correspondent, National Public Radio

"A wonderfully eclectic and amazingly up-to-date compendium that anyone interested in the U.S. Supreme Court and the Constitution ought to own. It leaves no stone unturned--covering not only landmark decisions but important themes, historical curiosities, biographical gems, and controversies
large and small....It's hard to believe that such a work could be pitched at a level that is simultaneously useful to the expert and interesting to the layman, but this Oxford Companion does just that."--Laurence H. Tribe, Harvard Law School

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0195058356
• ISBN 13: 9780195058352
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 1066
• Editor: Hall Kermit L., Ely Jr. James W., Grossman Joel B., Wiecek William M.