Constitutional Law for a Changing America

Lee Epstein is Ethan A.H. Shepley Distinguished University Professor at Washington University in St. Louis. She is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. A recipient of 12 grants from the National Science Foundation for her work on law and legal institutions, Epstein has authored or co-authored over 100 articles and essays, as well as 15 books, including The Choices Justices Make (co-authored with Jack Knight), which won the Pritchett Award for the Best Book on Law and Courts and the Lasting Contribution Award for making a “lasting impression on the field of law and courts.” The Constitutional Law for a Changing America series (co-authored with Thomas G. Walker) received the Teaching and Mentoring Award from the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association. Her most recent books are The Behavior of Federal Judges, with William M. Landes and Richard A. Posner, and An Introduction to Empirical Legal Research, with Andrew D. Martin. Thomas G. Walker is the Goodrich C. White Professor of Political Science at Emory University, where he teaches courses in constitutional law and the judicial process. He is the coauthor of A Court Divided (1988), with Deborah Barrow, which won the V. O. Key, Jr. Award for the best book on southern politics, and the Constitutional Law for a Changing America series, with Lee Epstein. He is also author of Eligible for Execution: The Story of the Daryl Atkins Case (2009).

• Chronological Table of CasesTables, Figures, and BoxesPrefacePART I: The U.S. ConstitutionAn Introduction to the U.S. ConstitutionThe Road to the U.S. ConstitutionUnderlying Principles of the ConstitutionChpater 1: The Living ConstitutionThe Amendment ProcessThe Supreme Court and the Living ConstitutionReadingsChapter 2: Understanding the Supreme CourtProcessing Supreme Court CasesSupreme Court Decision Making: The Role of Law and Legal MethodsSupreme Court Decision Making: The Role of PoliticsConducting Research on the Supreme CourtReadingsPART II: Institutional AuthorityStructuring the Federal SystemOrigins of the Separation of Powers/Checks and Balances SystemSeparation of Powers and the ConstitutionChapter 3: The JudiciaryEstablishment of the Federal JudiciaryJudicial ReviewMarbury v. Madison (1803)Constraints on Judicial PowerEx Parte McCardle (1869)ReadingsChapter 4: The LegislatureArticle I: Historical OverviewMembers of Congress: Qualifications, Immunity, and DisciplineU.S. Term Limits v. Thornton (1995)The Sources and Scope of Legislative PowersMcCulloch v. Maryland (1819)United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp. (1936)Congress and the Separation of PowersMistretta v. United States (1989)Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha (1983)ReadingsChapter 5: The ExecutiveSelection and Formal PowersThe Domestic Powers of the PresidentClinton v. City of New York (1998)United States v. Nixon (1974)Clinton v. Jones (1997)The President and Foreign AffairsKorematsu v. United States (1944)Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952)Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004)ReadingsPART III: Nation-State RelationsAllocating Government PowerThe Framers and FederalismThe Allocation of Government PowerChapter 6: Federalism: An IntroductionState Sovereignty and the Tenth AmendmentMcCulloch v. Maryland (1819)The Taney Court and the (Re)Emergence of States’ RightsDual Federalism and Laissez-Faire EconomicsThe (Re)Emergence of National Supremacy: Cooperative FederalismReturn of (a Milder Form of) Dual FederalismPrintz v. United States (1997)The Eleventh AmendmentReadingsChapter 7: The Commerce PowerFoundations of the Commerce PowerGibbons v. Ogden (1824)Attempts to Define the Commerce Power in the Wake of the Industrial RevolutionHammer v. Dagenhart (1918)The Supreme Court and the New DealA.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States (1935)National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation (1937)The Era of Expansive Commerce Clause JurisprudenceUnited States v. Darby (1941)Wicked v. Filburn (1942)Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States (1964)Limits on the Commerce Power: The Republican Court EraGarcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority (1985)United States v. Lopez (1995)Gonzales v. Raich (2005)National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012)ReadingsChapter 8: The Power to Tax and SpendThe Constitutional Power to Tax and SpendDirect Taxes and the Power to Tax IncomePollock v. Farmers Loan & Trust Co. (1895)Intergovernmental Tax ImmunityTaxation as a Regulatory PowerTaxing and Spending for the General WelfareSouth Dakota v. Dole (1987)National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012)ReadingPART IV: Economic LibertiesEconomic Liberties and Individual RightsChapter 9: The Contract ClauseThe Framers and the Contract ClauseJohn Marshall and the Contract ClauseThe Decline of the Contract ClauseProprietors of Charles River Bridge v. Proprietors of Warren Bridge (1837)Home Building and Loan Association v. Blaisdell (1934)Modern Applications of the Contract ClauseReadingsChapter 10: Economic Substantive Due ProcessThe Development of Substantive Due ProcessThe Roller-Coaster Ride of Substantive Due Process: 1898-1923Lochner v. New York (1905)The Heyday of Substantive Due Process: 1923-1936Adkins v. Children’s Hospital (1923)The Depression, the New Deal, and the Decline of Substantive Due ProcessWest Coast Hotel v. Parrish (1937)ReadingsChapter 11: The Takings ClauseProtecting Private Property from Government SeizureWhat Constitutes a Taking?Penn Central Transportation Company v. City of New York (1978)Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council (1992)Public Use RequirementKelo v. City of New London (2005)ReadingsPART V: Civil LibertiesApproaching Civil LibertiesChapter 12: Religion: Exercise and EstablishmentFree Exercise of ReligionSherbert v. Verner (1963)Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith (1990)Religious EstablishmentEverson v. Board of Education (1947)School District of Abington Township v. Schempp; Murray v. Curlett (1963)Lemon v. Kurtzman; Earley v. DiCenso (1971)Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002)Van Orden v. Perry (2005)ReadingsChapter 13: Freedom of Speech, Assembly, and AssociationThe Development of Legal Standards: The Emergence of Law in Times of CrisisSchenck v. United States (1919)Contemporary Tests and Constitutional GuidelinesContent and ContextsTexas v. Johnson (1989)Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942)Morse v. Frederick (2007)Snyder v. Phelps (2011)West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (2000)ReadingsChapter 14: Freedom of the PressPrior RestraintNear v. Minnesota (1931)The Media and Special RightsBranzburg v. Hayes (1972)The Boundaries of Free Press: Libel, Obscenity, and Emerging Areas of Government ConcernNew York Times v. Sullivan (1964)Miller v. California (1973)Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association (2011)Regulating the InternetReno v. American Civil Liberties Union (1997)ReadingsChapter 15: The Right to Keep and Bear ArmsInitial InterpretationsThe Second Amendment RevisitedDistrict of Columbia v. Heller (2008)Heller and the StatesReadingsChapter 16: The Right to PrivacyThe Right to Privacy: FoundationsGriswold v. Connecticut (1965)Reproductive Freedom and the Right to PrivacyRoe v. Wade (1973)Private Activities and the Application of GriswoldLawrence v. Texas (2003)Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health (1990)ReadingsPART VI: The Rights of the Criminally AccusedThe Criminal Justice System and Constitutional RightsOverview of the Criminal Justice SystemTrends in Court Decision MakingChapter 17: Investigations and EvidenceSearches and SeizuresUnited States v. Jones (2012)Mapp v. Ohio (1961)United States v. Leon (1984)The Fifth Amendment and Self-IncriminationMiranda v. Arizona (1966)ReadingsChapter 18: Attorneys, Trials, and PunishmentsThe Right to CounselGideon v. Wainwright (1963)Fair TrialsSentencing and the Eighth AmendmentGregg v. Georgia (1976)Atkins v. Virginia (2002)Posttrial StagesReadingsPART VII: Civil RightsCivil Rights and the ConstitutionThe Fourteenth AmendmentThe Fifteenth AmendmentChapter 19: DiscriminationRacial DiscriminationPlessy v. Ferguson (1896)Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)Sex DiscriminationReed v. Reed (1971)Craig v. Boren (1976)Economic DiscriminationSan Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez (1973)Discrimination Based on Sexual OrientationRomer v. Evans (1996)United States v. Windsor (2013)Remedying the Effects of Discrimination: Affirmative ActionGrutter v. Bollinger (2003)ReadingsChapter 20: Voting and RepresentationVoting RightsShelby County, Alabama v. Holder (2013)Contemporary Restrictions on the Right to VoteCrawford v. Marion County Election Board (2008)Election Campaign RegulationCitizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)Political RepresentationReynolds v. Sims (1964)Miller v. Johnson (1995)The 2000 Presidential ElectionBush v. Gore (2000)ReadingsReference MaterialConstitution of the United StatesThe JusticesGlossaryOnline Case Archive ListCase IndexSubject Index