American Constitutional Law, Volume I: The Structure of Government

American Constitutional Law, 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 Tenth Edition has been fully revised to include seven new cases, including key decisions National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning, Zivotofsky v. Kerry, Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, Horne v. Department of Agriculture and Comptroller of the Treasure of Maryland v. Wynne.

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.

Ralph A. Rossum is Salvatori Professor of American Constitutionalism at Claremont McKenna College. He has written or co-written eight books, including his most recent, Understanding Clarence Thomas: The Jurisprudence of Constitutional Restoration (Univ. of Kansas Press, 2013). He has served in the U.S. Department of Justice as Deputy Director of its Bureau of Justice Statistics and as a board member of its National Institute of Corrections.

G. Alan Tarr is Distinguished Professor of Political Science and director of the Center for State Constitutional Studies, Rutgers University, Camden. He is author of twelve books, including Without Fear or Favor: Judicial Independence and Judicial Accountability in the American States (Stanford University Press) and Judicial Process and Judicial Policymaking, Sixth Edition (Cengage). He has served as a constitutional consultant in Brazil, Burma, Cyprus, Russia, and South Africa. Three times an NEH Fellow, he is currently editor of a fifty-volume reference series on state constitutions.