Here are the landmark decisions that have shaped American life, described by some of our most eminent legal scholars. Arranged alphabetically, each entry provides the United States Reports citation, the date the case was argued and decided, the vote of the Justices, who wrote the opinion for the Court, who concurred, and who dissented. More importantly, the entries feature an informative account of the particulars of the case, the legal and social background, the reasoning behind the Court's decision, and the case's impact on American society. Kermit Hall has drawn the material primarily from the acclaimed Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court, revising and updating entries where necessary, and he has written 47 new entries covering recent notable cases, including Clinton v. Jones, Shaw v. Reno, Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, and Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. FCC. The Guide also features a case index (including art cases mentioned anywhere in the text), a topical index, the Constitution of the United States, an appendix on the Justices, and a legal glossary.

For anyone interested in the great controversies of our time, this invaluable book is a must read -- a primer on the epic constitutional battles that haveinformed American life.