The Supreme Court : Constitution Day

Electronic books

• Panchyk, Richard C. Our Supreme Court: a history with 14 activities. Chicago:  Chicago Review Press, 2007.
• Ball, Howard. The Supreme Court in the intimate lives of Americans: birth, sex, marriage, childrearing, and death. New York: New York University Press, 2002.
• Bybee, Keith J. Mistaken identity: the Supreme Court and the politics of minority representation. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1998.
• Haynes, Charles C. The First Amendment in schools: a guide from the First Amendment Center. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2003.
• Klarman, Michael J.  From Jim Crow to civil rights: the Supreme Court and the struggle for racial equality.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
• Lively, Donald E. Landmark Supreme Court cases: a reference guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999.
• O'Conner, Sandra Day. The majesty of the law: reflections of a Supreme Court Justice. New York: Random House, 2003.
• Ravitch, Franks S.  Masters of illusion:  the Supreme Court and the religion clauses. New York: New York University Press, 2007.
• Roosevelt, Kermit, The myth of judicial activism: making sense of Supreme Court decisions. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
• Saunders, Kevin W. Saving our children from the First Amendment. New York: New York University Press, 2003.
• Smith, Jeffrey A. War and press freedom: the problem of prerogative power. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
• Tushnet, Mark V.  Making constitutional law: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court, 1961-1992. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
• Yarbrough, Tinsley E.  David Hackett Souter: traditional Republican on the Rehnquist Court. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
• Wilkins, David E.  American Indian sovereignty and the U.S. Supreme Court: the masking of justice. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997.

Print books

• Bigel, Alan I. Justices William J. Brennan, Jr. and Thurgood Marshall on capital punishment: its constitutionality, morality, deterrent effect, and interpretation by the Court.   Lanham,MD: University Press of America, 1997. (GA: UNIV General Stacks: Call Number: 345.0773 B53j, 1997)
• Charles, Patrick J.  The Second Amendment: the intent and its interpretation by the states and the Supreme Court.  Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2009. (GA: UNIV General Stacks:  Call Number: 344.7305 C425s, 2009)
• Fletcher, Michael A. & Merida, Kevin. Supreme discomfort: the divided soul of Clarence Thomas. New York: Doubleday, 2007. (GA: UNIV General Stacks: Call Number: 347.7326 T 56Zme, 2007)
• Flowers, Ronald B. That godless court?: Supreme Court decisions on church-state relationships. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994. (GA: UNIV General Stacks: Call Number: 342.0852 F56g 1994)
• Harrison, Maureen & Gilbert, Steve.  Abortion decisions of the United States Supreme Court.  Beverly Hills,CA: Excellent Books, 1993. (GA: UNIV General Stacks: Call Number: 44.04192 A22 1993)
• Hemmer, Joseph Jr. Communication law: the Supreme Court and the First Amendment.  Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2006.  (GA: UNIV General Stacks: Call Number: 323.445 G376r, 2006)
• Lombardo. Paul A. Three generations, no imbeciles:  eugenics, the Supreme Court, and Buck v. Bell. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. (GA: UNIV General Stacks: Call Number: 344.7304 L66t, 2008)
• Kopel, David B. Supreme Court gun cases: two centuries of gun rights revealed.  Phoenix, AZ: Bloomfield Press, 2004. (GA: UNIV General Stacks: Call Number: 344.7305 K67s, 2004)
• Perry. Michael J, The Constitution in the courts: law or politics?  New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. (GA: UNIV General Stacks: Call Number: 342.02 P47c 1994)
• Pederson, William D & Provizer, Norman W. editors, Great justices of the U.S. Supreme Court: ratings and case studies. New York: P. Lang, 1994. (GA: UNIV General Stacks: Call Number: 347.7326 G73, 1994)
• Russell, Gregory D, The death penalty and racial bias: overturning Supreme Court assumptions. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. (GA: UNIV General Stacks: Call Number: Call Number: 364.66 R87d 1994)
• Schwartz. Bernard,  A history of the Supreme Court. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. (GA: UNIV General Stacks: Call Number: 347.7326 S38h, 1993)

Web sites

• Constitution Day Information
  1. Celebrate Constitution Day!
     www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/constitution/constitution-day.html
     This National Archives site includes information about upcoming activities at the Archives in honor of Constitution Day, images of the original handwritten Constitution, activities, a lesson plan, and many other resources.

      

  2. CQ Press in Context: Celebrating Constitution Day
     www.cqpress.com/incontext/constitution/default.htm
     Includes lesson plan, historical background, links to pro/con debates on constitutional issues, information about government powers, factoids, and links to many other sites.

      

  3. Constitution Day!
     www.constitutionday.us
     Includes clause-by-clause interpretation of the Constitution and lesson plans.

      

• Constitutional History
  1. U.S. Constitution Online
     www.usconstitution.net
     Provides a wealth of information about the Constitution and the people who wrote it.

      

  2. Articles of Confederation
     www.archives.gov/historical-docs/document.html?doc=2&title.raw=Articles%20of%20Confederation
     America's "first" Constitution -- the Articles of Confederation

      

  3. The Federalist: A Collection of Essays...
     www.law.emory.edu/FEDERAL/federalist/
     The ratification of the Constitution in 1789 created many famous debates. Compare the Federalist Papers (the pro-Constitution set of newspaper articles by Madison, Hamilton and Jay) ...

      

  4. Index to the Antifederalist Papers
     wepin.com/articles/afp/index.htm
     ... with the articles written by those who were against ratification.

      

• Constitutional Law
  1. Supreme Court of the United States
     www.supremecourtus.gov
     The official US Supreme Court website.

      

  2. Supreme Court Collection
     http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/supct/index.html
     Another excellent site to access Supreme Court cases.

      

• Amendments
  1. First Amendment Center
     www.firstamendmentcenter.org
     Chock full of information on freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition.

      

  2. The Failed Amendments
     www.usconstitution.net/constamfail.html
     There have also been several attempts to amend the Constitution that failed. Here are amendments actually proposed by Congress that were not ratified.

      

  3. Some Proposed Amendments
     www.usconstitution.net/constamprop.html
     Here are amendments that have not yet been officially proposed by Congress. See the article and list for brief descriptions of the several hundred that have been introduced in Congress in the last fifteen years.

      

• Comparing Constitutions
  1. Constitutions, Statutes, and Codes
     www.law.cornell.edu/statutes.html
     Each state in the United States has its own Constitution. This includes a list of links to state constitutions in the third section.

      

  2. National Constitutions
     www.constitution.org/cons/natlcons.htm
     The US Constitution was not the first Constitution, but it is unique in many ways when compared to the constitutions of other countries. This is a list of and links to constitutions from other countries.

      

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Prepared by
Patrick Oberholtzer, Instruction and Reference Librarian
September, 2009