Evolving Constitution: How Supreme Court has Ruled on Issues from Abortion to Zoning

Alphabetically arranged by topic, this comprehensive guide to the U.S. Constitution summarizes the rulings of the Supreme Court on a wide range of issues, featuring brief essays discussing the issues, profiles of the justices, and the full text of the Constitution.

This excellent reference work details the manner in which the U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted the Constitution for almost 200 years. A professor of law at New York Law School, Lieberman has written other books on the Constitution. His present work is well organized, digesting about 2,370 Supreme Court cases into roughly 1200 concise, pertinent, and easily understood essays on constitutional issues. Arranged alphabetically by topic, each essay highlights both the constitutional background and the history of the issue, as well the latest legal developments. The book effectively illustrates the manner in which changing economic and social conditions can frequently alter the way the Supreme Court interprets an issue. For example, evolving attitudes of the Court are evidenced by the change from the separate-but-equal doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) to the separate-is-inherently-unequal doctrine of Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Also, changing political winds can sometimes result in the reversal of decisions once perceived to be definitive--witness the ongoing weakening of the seminal 1973 abortion decision, Roe v. Wade . Highly recommended for public libraries and the general reference collections of academic libraries.
- Philip Y. Blue, Dowling Coll. Lib., Oakdale, N.Y
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.