Constitutional Law: Principles and Policy, Cases and Materials

The authors of this casebook are committed to reflect fully the dynamism, controversy, and excitement that characterize contemporary Constitutional Law. While generally striving for brevity, the authors lightly edit cases where the Court appears to be embarking on a new doctrinal course so that sharply different constitutional philosophies are fully and fairly presented.


Features of the new Seventh Edition include:

Commerce Clause: Gonzales v. Raich (2005), the medical marijuana case and its surprising reaffirmation of the affection doctrine and Granholm v. Heald (2005), the Dormant Commerce Clause wine case;

Executive and Congressional Relations— Separation of Powers: Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004), the enemy citizen combatant case;

Due Process: Lawrence v. Texas (2003), the Texas criminal sodomy case and the conflict over the meaning of liberty and the protection to be extended to individual autonomy;

Equal Protection: Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) and Gratz v. Bollinger (2003) and the future of affirmative action;

Freedom of Expression: Virginia v. Black (2003) and the emergence of true threats as an unprotected category of expression; and

Freedom of Religion: The Court's conflicting Ten Commandments cases, McCreary County v. ACLU (2005) and Van Orden v. Perry (2005) and the battle between accommodationism and separationism.