LANDMARK SUPREME COURT CASES

by Don Lawson ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1987

Crucial cases over the course of the Supreme Court's history, their antecedents and consequences. Lawson specializes in writing about government for young people. In this volume, he charts the justices' influence in the context of Charles Evan Hughes' statement that ""We are under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what the Supreme Court justices say it is."" These justices, even after they have died, will live on in the decisions they have wrought. Lawson gives the cases focus in terms of these people, assessing the Court's leaders over time: Marshall's impact in Marbury vs. Madison and Fortas' sphere in the Gideon case, which established the right of poor criminal defendants to free legal counsel. He gives readers a sense of relationships between cases, e.g., between a discrimination case involving Memphis firefighters and the more famous Bakke case. And Lawson's love for his subject comes through in his clear explanations, as he sweeps through Dred Scott, Brown vs. Board of Education, the Miranda case, etc., ending with the Court's first antinuclear decision. He makes potentially dull material come alive (e.g., the timetable for presenting a case). A list of justices is appended. A lively addition to the current spate of Constitution-related books. Photographs; bibliography; index.

Pub Date: June 1, 1987

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 128

Publisher: Enslow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1987

Categories: CHILDREN'S