Understanding the Constitution

For close to fifty years, Understanding the Constitution has helped students understand and interpret the document that outlines America's fundamental rules and government structures. Always current and concise, this textbook is an indispensable supplement for courses in constitutional law, judicial process, and the American government. Features: * This handbook examines the Constitution clause by clause in light of judicial interpretation and current applications. * Peltason provides thorough commentary for key Constitutional issues, while encouraging students to explore different interpretations of the constitution. New to this edition: * Understanding the Constitution now covers the 1995-1996 Supreme Court Session. * Peltason discusses the Supreme Court's current consideration of such volatile issues as affirmative action, cyberspace and the First Amendment, and federalism.

Sue Davis received her Ph.D. from the University of California¿Santa Barbara. She is a professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Delaware where she teaches Constitutional Law, American Political Thought, and Politics, and Literature. Her most recent book, ELIZABETH CADY STANTON: WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND AMERICAN POLITICAL TRADITION, will be published by New York University Press in 2007. Her other books include AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT: FOUR HUNDRED YEARS OF IDEAS AND IDEOLOGIES, Prentice-Hall, 1996 and JUSTICE REHNQUIST AND THE CONSTITUTION, Princeton University Press, 1898.

J.W. Peltason is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as a past vice president of the American Political Science Association. He is an expert on American constitutional politics and American political institutions. He has written on the Constitution, the courts, state and local government, and the American political process. In addition, Dr. Peltason is one of the leading figures in American higher education: he is the former President of the University of California, former Chancellor of UCI, former Chancellor of the University of Illinois, and past president of the American Council on Education.