Peter Irons has become one of the leading interpreters of the Supreme Court and the Constitution for the American public. His books and articles have illuminated the process by which constitutional law has been made and shaped, from the New Deal period to the present. His work has focused on the human aspect of the law, on the ordinary people who bring cases to the Supreme Court, and the impact of the Court's decisions on their lives and the lives...

Profiles civil rights cases on flag salutes, internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, housing discrimination, First Amendment, school integration, segregation, conscientious objectors, loyalty oaths, teaching of evolution, Vietnam War protests, abortion, property-tax finance system, maternity leave, libel, prayer in public schools, sodomy laws.

This book examines a fundamental question in the development of the American empire: What constraints does the Constitution place on our territorial expansion, military intervention, occupation of foreign countries, and on the power the president may exercise over American foreign policy? Worried about the dangers of unchecked executive power, the Founding Fathers deliberately assigned Congress the sole authority to make war. But the last time Congress...

Publisher's description: Beginning with the debates over judicial power in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 to controversial rulings on slavery, racial segregation, free speech, school prayer, abortion, and gay rights, constitutional scholar Peter Irons offers a penetrating look at the highest court in the land. Here are revealing sketches of every justice from John Jay to Stephen Breyer, as well as portraits of such legal giants as John Marshall,...

In many towns and cities, public schools become the arena in which conflicts that begin in homes, churches, and meeting halls are fought. Issues involving prayer, newspaper and library censorship, political protest, drug testing, illegal aliens, and corporal punishment spill into classrooms and result in lawsuits. Presents sixteen Supreme Court cases involving students' and teachers' constitutional rights. Includes transcripts of the arguments, excerpts...