Encyclopedia of Supreme Court Quotations

Freelance author Anzalone breathes fresh life into a corpus of slightly over 1000 Supreme Court decisions by excerpting selections with precedential, historical, or research value. The resulting compendium is arranged so that readers can understand both the guiding principles of constitutional law upon which the opinions are based and the relevance and interconnectedness of contemporary social, economic, and political issues to the core concepts as both evolve over time. The overall presentation illustrates and underscores the concept of the living law, the idea that the U.S. Constitution is a flexible and dynamic document, the beauty of which lies in its ability to adapt to changing times and conditions. Justice Tom Clark's observation in 1961 that "there is no war between the Constitution and common sense" is echoed throughout the book, as the editor juxtaposes excerpts from majority, concurring, and dissenting opinions spanning a range of 13 categories that are as varied as separation of powers, liberty and freedom, due process and equal protection, and crime and punishment. Helpful appendixes and indexes enhance the ability of the reader to target specific selections based on criteria such as keywords, judicial authorship, or case name. Highly recommended for academic and law libraries, this is especially useful for law students or legal practicioners in search of language suitable for debate in adversarial settings.--Philip Y. Blue, New York State Supreme Court Criminal Branch Lib., New York Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information. -Library Journal.