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July, 2021 | CQ Press

Constitutional Law for a Changing America

Rights, Liberties, and Justice

Eleventh Edition
Lee J. Epstein - USC Gould School of Law
Thomas G. Walker - Emory University, USA
Kevin T. McGuire - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
752 pages | July, 2021 | CQ Press
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Political factors influence judicial decisions. Arguments and input from lawyers and interest groups, shifting public opinion, and the ideological and behavioral inclinations of the justices collectively influence the development of constitutional doctrine. In Constitutional Law for a Changing America, bestselling authors Lee Epstein, Kevin T. McGuire, and Thomas G. Walker draw on both political science and legal studies to analyze and excerpt cases, accounting for recent landmark court decisions, including key opinions handed down through the 2020 term.  

Updated with additional material such as recent court rulings, more than 500 supplemental cases, and greater coverage of freedom of expression, this Eleventh Edition will develop students’ understanding of how the U.S. Constitution protects civil rights and liberties.

Included with this text

  • The online resources for your text are available via the password-protected Instructor Resource Site. Learn more.

Chronological Table of Cases
Tables, Figures, and Boxes
Preface
PART I. THE SUPREME COURT AND THE CONSTITUTION

The Road to the Bill of Rights
The Amendment Process
Constitutional Change and the Supreme Court

Processing Supreme Court Cases
Supreme Court Decision Making: Legalism
Supreme Court Decision Making: Realism
Conducting Research on the Supreme Court
ANNOTATED READINGS

Judicial Review
Constraints On Judicial Power
ANNOTATED READINGS

Must States Abide by the Bill of Rights? Initial Responses
Incorporation through the Fourteenth Amendment: Early Interpretations
Tests Emerge
Incorporation in the Aftermath of Palko
ANNOTATED READINGS
PART II. CIVIL LIBERTIES
Approaching Civil Liberties

Defining Religion
Free Exercise of Religion
Religious Establishment
ANNOTATED READINGS

Free Expression in the Constitution
Justifications for Protecting Expression
Setting the Stage for Free Expression in the Supreme Court
Free Expression and the Incitement of Lawless Action
ANNOTATED READINGS

An Overview of Modern-Day Free Speech Doctrine
What Is Expression?
Does the Expression Fall Into an Unprotected Category?
Who Is Speaking?
Is The Regulation Content Neutral Or Content Based?
ANNOTATED READINGS

Prior Restraint
Government Control of Press Content
News Gathering and Special Rights
ANNOTATED READINGS

Libel
Obscenity
ANNOTATED READINGS

Initial Interpretations
The Second Amendment Revisited
Heller and the States
In the Aftermath of Heller and McDonald
ANNOTATED READINGS

The Right to Privacy: Foundations
Reproductive Freedom and the Right to Privacy: Abortion
The Aftermath of Roe: Attempts to Limit the Decision
Attempts to Overturn Roe
Personal Liberty and Privacy Beyond Reproductive Freedom
ANNOTATED READINGS
PART III. THE RIGHTS OF THE CRIMINALLY ACCUSED

Overview of the Criminal Justice System
Trends in Court Decision Making

Searches and Seizures
The Fifth Amendment and Self-Incrimination
ANNOTATED READINGS

The Right to Counsel
The Pretrial Period and the Right to Bail
The Sixth Amendment and Fair Trials
Trial Proceedings
Final Trial Stage: An Overview of Sentencing
The Eighth Amendment
Posttrial Protections and the Double Jeopardy Clause
Postrelease Protections
ANNOTATED READINGS
PART IV. CIVIL RIGHTS

The Fourteenth Amendment
The Fifteenth Amendment

Initial Approaches to the Fourteenth Amendment
State Action Requirement
ANNOTATED READINGS

Rational Basis Scrutiny
Strict Scrutiny and Claims of Race Discrimination
Heightened Scrutiny and Claims of Gender Discrimination
Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation
Discrimination Based on Economic Status
Discrimination against Aliens
The Future of Discrimination Law
ANNOTATED READINGS

Voting Rights
Political Representation
Election Campaign Regulation
The Court and Presidential Elections
ANNOTATED READINGS
Reference Material
Appendix 1. Constitution of the United States
Appendix 2. The Justices
Appendix 3. Glossary
Appendix 4. Online Case Archive Index
Case Index
Subject Index
About the Authors

Instructor Resource Site Online resources included with this text

The online resources for your text are available via the password-protected Instructor Resource Site, which offers access to all text-specific resources, including a test bank, and editable, chapter-specific PowerPoint® slides.

Case Archive
http://edge.sagepub.com/epsteinrights11e

The authors have excerpted each case in the same format as those in the text, featuring the justices’ votes, a summary of case facts, and a carefully edited version of the justices' opinions.

For additional information, custom options, or to request a personalized walkthrough of these resources, please contact your sales representative.

NEW TO THIS EDITION:

  • Each chapter is thoroughly updated for currency and scholarship and reflects the most recent court rulings.
  • Two chapters now cover freedom of speech: In order to highlight some of the foundational issues and contrast them with contemporary disputes over expression, coverage of speech has separated into two chapters — Chapter 5 offers an overview of the enduring topics of free expression, and Chapter 6 reorganizes cases around modern legal questions about speech.
  • Fourth Amendment and Tech: Chapter 11 includes a closer examination of one of the problems at the intersection of the Fourth Amendment and modern technology.
  • Coverage of Religion - Our coverage of religion in Chapter 4 has expanded, revisiting some previous cases (such as Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah) and incorporating some new ones (such as American Legion v. American Humanist Association).  
KEY FEATURES:
  • A range of “Aftermath” boxes for selected cases provide final chapters to these stories, stimulating interesting discussions about the decisions’ impacts on the lives of ordinary Americans.
  • "Facts” and "Arguments" sections before every case help students understand key rulings.
  • Tables and figures on Court trends bring out the rich legal, social, historical, economic, and political contexts in which the Court reaches its decisions.