The third edition brings the material up-to-date with both the latest historical scholarship and the most recent Supreme Court decisions using historical analysis. Among both judges and academics, one of the hottest issues in constitutional law is the role of "original intent." Almost everyone agrees that it is important, and some scholars and judges believe it should be the most important factor in constitutional law. To think about these issues intelligently, law students need to have ready access to the historical materials so they can see how the Framers of the Constitution thought about critical issues. Yet the original source materials fill many volumes. Writings by historians also fill many bookshelves. Just as the traditional casebook selects and condenses materials from the court reports to make them useful for law students, this book does the same thing for the historical evidence of original intent. There is no other source that covers this range of materials, combined with concise overviews of the best understanding of the historical context. Only this book gives students a cogent introduction to the history behind the Constitution and its major amendments, so they can form their own judgments about the "original understanding" and its relevance to modern constitutional law.


Imprint: West Academic Publishing
Series: Coursebook
Publication Date: 10/16/2013

Daniel A. Farber, University of CA-Berkeley School of Law

Suzanna Sherry, Vanderbilt University Law School

CasebookPlus™

This title is available in our CasebookPlus format. CasebookPlus provides support beyond your classroom lectures and materials by offering additional digital resources to you and your students. Anchored by faculty-authored formative self-assessments keyed to our most popular casebooks, CasebookPlus allows students to test their understanding of core concepts as they are learning them in class – on their own, outside of the classroom, with no extra work on your part. CasebookPlus combines three important elements:

  • A new print or digital casebook
  • Access to a downloadable eBook with the ability to highlight and add notes
  • 12-month access to a digital Learning Library complete with:
Multiple-choice self-assessment questions, including:
  • Chapter questions keyed to the casebook
  • Black Letter Law questions (available in select subjects)
  • Subject area review questions for end of semester use
Essay and short answer questions with sample answers and expert commentary, in 1L and select upper-level subjects

Leading digital study aids, an outline starter, and audio lectures in select subjects

Students can still utilize CasebookPlus digital resources if they’ve purchased a used book or are renting their text by purchasing the Learning Library at westacademic.com.

With CasebookPlus, you can customize your students’ learning experience and monitor their performance. The quiz editor allows you to create your own custom quiz set, suppress specific quiz questions or quiz sets, and time-release quiz questions. Additionally, the flexible, customized reporting capability helps you evaluate your students’ understanding of the material and can also help your school demonstrate compliance with the new ABA Assessment and Learning Outcomes standards.

Learn more about this series.