Bøger i Landmark Law Cases and American Society serien

The history of voting rights in America is marked by dogged progress against persistent prejudice toward an expanding inclusiveness. The Supreme Court decision in Smith v. Allwright is a crucial chapter in that story and marked a turning point for the civil rights movement. Charles Zelden's retelling of this episode reveals why.

Privacy isn't even mentioned in the US Constitution. It took the Supreme Court's ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) to bestow constitutional protection upon this right. John Johnson's critique of Griswold - which observes its 40th anniversary on June 7, 2005 - reminds us once again of its crucial impact on both American law and society.

When the US took control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam following the Spanish-American War, it was unclear to what degree these islands were actually part of the US. By looking at what became known as the Insular Cases, this work reveals how America resolved to govern these territories.

It has become known to many as the moment when the US Supreme Court kicked God out of the public schools, supposedly paving the way for a decline in educational quality and a dramatic rise in delinquency and immorality. This book helps readers understand why Americans remain divided on how divided church and state should be.

Aaron Burr was an enigma even in his own day. Founding father and vice president, he engaged in a duel with Alexander Hamilton resulting in a murder indictment that effectively ended his legal career. This book unveils a cast of characters ensnared by politics and law at the highest levels of government.

The Supreme Court's controversial decision in Oregon v. Smith sharply departed from previous readings of the First Amendment's religious freedom clause and ignited a firestorm of protest. This analysis of the case shows why it continues to resonate so deeply in the American psyche.

The military trial of William Calley for his role in the slaughter of 500 or more Vietnamese civilians at My Lai shocked a nation already sharply divided over a controversial war. This work is a retelling of the My Lai story through the prism of the law.

This volume reexamines the events and personalities in the 1894 strike when the American Railway Union took action against the Pullman Palace Car Company. It also looks at related proceedings in the Chicago trial courts, and the decision which set important standards for labour injunctions.

In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Louis Fisher analyzes the case of eight Germans who landed in the USA in 1942 bent on sabotage. Caught before they could carry out their missions, they were hauled before a secret military tribunal and found guilty. Six of the men were put to death.

In 1993-2001, three cases in North Carolina went before the Supreme Court to decide how far a state could establish voting districts along racial lines. This text explores how the Court addressed the constitutionality of redistricting within the contexts of civil rights and partisan politics.

Howard Ball examines the landmark case of the U.S. v. Price in 1967. Following the failure of the Mississippi authorities to indict members of the KKK for a racist murder, the federal government successfully appealed to the Supreme Court and established federal jurisdiction over civil rights violations.

Augustus Cochran reexamines the origins, contexts, and impact of the decision that the creation of a ""hostile work environment"" through sexual harassment was a form of sex discrimination and introduces readers to the main actors in the case of Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson (1986).

Anne Hutchinson was perhaps the most famous Englishwoman in colonial American history, viewed in later centuries as a crusader for religious liberty and a prototypical feminist. Michael Winship disentangles what really happened from the legends that have misrepresented her.

The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1868, sought to protect the rights of the newly freed slaves; but its first important test - centered on a vitriolic dispute among the white butchers of mid-Reconstruction New Orleans - did not arise until five years later. This is a guide to one of the US Supreme Court's most famous cases.

Dollree Mapp defied a predominantly white police force by challenging the legality of its search-and-seizure methods. This work follows the police raid into her home and chronicles the events that led to the Court's 5-4 ruling in Mapp v Ohio, which redefined the rights of the accused and set limits on how police could obtain and use evidence.

Recounts how the cashier of the Baltimore branch of the Second Bank of the US refused to pay Maryland's tax on the bank and how that act precipitated a showdown in the Supreme Court. This book provides a virtual constitutional history of the first fifty years of the nation.

When Arthur Gochman filed a class-action suit in 1968 on behalf of San Antonio school children, he argued that quality education was a constitutional right and a district court agreed. But the Supreme Court overruled that decision. This book assesses the impact of this decision and provides an account of the legal maneuvering of the two sides.

Does the Constitution protect children from violent parents? This book discusses domestic relations, child abuse, and the responsibilities - and limits - of state action regarding the private lives of citizens. It helps readers understand how considerations of ""what should be"" are not always reflected in legal reasoning.