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| The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States | 
 enlarge | Creator: Kermit L. Hall
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $65.00
Buy New: $9.98
You Save: $55.02 (85%)
Buy New/Used from $7.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  (15 reviews)
Sales Rank: 291215
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 2
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 1272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4.9
Dimensions (in): 10 x 7.5 x 2.5
ISBN: 0195176618
Dewey Decimal Number: 347.732603
EAN: 9780195176612
ASIN: 0195176618
Publication Date: May 19, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The Supreme Court has continued to write constitutional history over the thirteen years since publication of the highly acclaimed first edition of The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court. Two new justices have joined the high court, more than 800 cases have been decided, and a good deal of new scholarship has appeared on many of the topics treated in the Companion. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist presided over the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton, and the Court as a whole played a decisive and controversial role in the outcome of the 2000 presidential election. Under Rehnquists's leadership, a bare majority of the justices have rewritten significant areas of the law dealing with federalism, sovereign immunity, and the commerce power. This new edition includes new entries on key cases and fully updated treatment of crucial areas of constitutional law, such as abortion, freedom of religion, school desegregation, freedom of speech, voting rights, military tribunals, and the rights of the accused. These developments make the second edition of this accessible and authoritative guide essential for judges, lawyers, academics, journalists, and anyone interested in the impact of the Court's decisions on American society.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Doesn't Condem Roe vs. Wade December 9, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I expected to read this book finding confirmation that I am correct to think that Roe vs Wade was a bad decision - but I can't find any statements like that in here, which angers me. Where are statements such as:
"Evolution is incorrect, and should constitutionally be replaced by creationism in public schools."
"Without public school prayer, our children will have no morals and will go on welfare. Public school prayer can and should be constitutionally required of all Americans, and lists of those who do not pray should be sent to the Department of Homeland Security."
"The founding fathers intened to enshrine Christianity as the Supreme Law of the land and would not have tolerated this wicked generation with its lusting after the deep things of Satan. Turn away from the works of Lucifer and do not in any way pledge your allegiance to him, lest you witness God's wrath. Also, sex is for procreation only, and the federal government may supervise your fornications to ensure their compliance with the teachings of Jesus."
"We, the people, in order to worship Jesus more perfectly, deny that there is a right to privacy embedded in the Constitution and reject the sins of the Democratic Party."
"Blasphemy is not protected by the Constitution, and particularly any speculation about how Jesus' genitals may have looked or smelled is considered to remove the protections of being a US citizen."
All of these are quotations I would have agreed with if they'd been included in this book, since they are not included the book must be wrong and the authors are wicked to have ignored what I think (and also, Jesus is getting angry with them).
 The de facto reference guide for the US Supreme Court November 21, 2007
Oxford Companions are some of the most indispensable reference books on the market, and this particular Oxford Companion is one of the strongest within the Oxford Series. This particular volume leaves no stone unturned with 1272 pages of cross-referenced material on the Court, and has approximately 300 pages more than the 1992 version.
From biographies of all justices who have ever served on the Court, to case summaries, both the famous ones to the not-so-famous ones, to legal terminology, this book has virtually anything you ever wanted to know about the United States Supreme Court. And more. Like the best of the Oxford Companion series, the entries contained within are accessible to virtually anyone who picks up the tome.
As a reference guide to the Supreme Court, I doubt there is another book which can meet the needs of both the lay person and the professional, in one single volume such as this. A must have for any reference library.
Possibly the best reference book in the entire Oxford Companion series, and that is saying quite alot.
The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States August 1, 2007
I bought this as a reference work, but I have found that it is a good read, also. Discussions of cases go into the details of what the issues of each case were, what the decision of the majority and minority of the court was, and the reasoning behind the decision. It also gives a clear understanding of the place of the Supreme Court in American government and life. This is a must for those who wish to understand the Supreme Court and how it came to be what it is now.
An excellent reference June 3, 2006
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
It is difficult to say whether the contentious atmosphere that currently exists regarding the legal opinions of the Supreme Court is greater than any other time in the history of the United States. There have been times, especially during the Civil War and World War I when the Supreme Court raised the ire of many a citizen. Some of the "activist" justices, as some of them are now called, could perhaps be designated as "activist light" if compared with some of the justices of the past. This book gives ample evidence for this comparison, but also gives information on a wide variety of legal issues that the Supreme Court has had to deal with throughout its history. It would probably not be read from cover to cover, but instead serves as a general reference for those readers who are not and do not intend to become legal scholars, but are curious as to the reasoning patterns deployed by the justices who sat on the Court. Readers who are approaching this subject for the first time will find many surprises about the Court, both in the opinions expressed by the judges and in their personal histories and backgrounds. It is fair to say that legal opinions are guided predominantly by the historical context in which they are put forth, and this claim seems to gain more substantiation as more articles in this book are read and studied.
One of the more surprising things to learn from this book is that the Supreme Court never really considered free speech issues with the First Amendment until as late as 1919, in Schenck v. United States. This case is also discussed in this book, and revolves around Charles Schenck, who was general secretary of the Socialist party of the time. Schenck and a few other defendants were convicted with a violation of the 1917 Espionage Act by conspiring to obstruct military recruiting and enlistment via the circulation of pamphlet. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote the unanimous opinion for the court ruling against Schenck and defendants and thus upholding their conviction. This case was the first time the famous statement of "crying fire in a public theatre" was used to restrict an "absolutist" interpretation of the First Amendment. It could also be viewed as an example of how even legal authorities, who are supposed to be calm and rational during emergencies or times of war, can succumb to the pressures of the times (in this case the pre- and post-war hysteria of World War I) and not be able to divorce themselves from their past personal histories (Holmes himself was wounded three times while serving in the Union Army during the Civil War). The Holmes Court effectively said that the First Amendment is not to be taken literally, and if speech presents a "clear and present danger" then governmental agencies have the right to punish the purveyors of this speech. Free speech issues dominant legal discussions at the present time, and the legal standing of "hate speech" is discussed in an article in this book. One can find solace in knowing that the Supreme Court has not found "hate speech" to be prohibited by the Constitution, despite attempts of many groups to justify its prohibition by appeals to constitutional law. The article on "hate speech" discusses some of these cases and gives a few references.
Without doubt the most despicable legal decision ever put forth by the Supreme Court was the case Scott v. Sandford in 1857. Known famously as the `Dred Scott Case', it is characterized in this book as one of the most important cases in American constitutional law. The decision essentially said that blacks are not citizens of the United States and therefore could not sue in federal courts. In addition, slaves were "property" that was "protected" by the Constitution. Naturally, and justifiably from a moral standpoint, the decision provoked hostile reaction against the Court, and the justices who ruled against Scott clearly were "activist heavy". In reference to the Dred Scott decision, the abolitionist William Garrison was justified in his statement that the Constitution was a "a covenant with death, and an agreement with hell."
The case Roe v. Wade is also discussed at length in this book, as expected. It will be interesting to see whether this case is overturned in the near future. If it is it might be because of a kind of `legal fatigue' that seems to be setting in dialog about the case. The arguments both for and against Roe v. Wade are repeated over and over again and have become almost platitudes. Rather than being a complicated Constitutional issue, is seems that the legal reasoning surrounding Roe v. Wade has become desiccated and has exhausted itself, offering no further insights or justifications for privacy.
Massive tome on the Supreme Court. October 7, 2005
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
_The Oxford Companion to the United States Supreme Court of the United States_ (Kermit Hall, ed.) is a massive tome containing a vast swath of information: cases, traditions, theories of constitutional interpretations, historical events, and biographies of all of the Supreme Court Justices. It has the same material (word for word) as Kermit Hall's _The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions_ but this is much more worthwhile reference work because it contains more contextual material than the cases themselves. This book is by no means exhaustive, but it provides a very informative overview of what the Supreme Court has been up to for the past two hundred years and the very different personalities serving on the body.
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