The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions.The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court United States Supreme Court: see Supreme Court, United States. Decisions Kermit L. Hall, ed. Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Ave. New York, NY 10016 428 pp., $35 Reviewing a dictionary is a difficult task. The recently published Oxford Guide to Supreme Court Decisions is essentially a dictionary of Supreme Court decisions. The book offers short descriptions of 400 leading cases. The entries are written by leading professors of law and political science throughout the country. The guide will be useful in situations where a person wants a brief description of a particular decision. The entries are alphabetized al·pha·bet·ize tr.v. al·pha·bet·ized, al·pha·bet·iz·ing, al·pha·bet·iz·es 1. To arrange in alphabetical order. 2. To supply with an alphabet. to make them easy to find. A dictionary can be reviewed fairly on two grounds: its accuracy and its comprehensiveness. As for the former, the descriptions of the cases are unfailingly correct. Each entry briefly describes the case, including its facts and holding. Some entries include a paragraph that attempts to assess the significance of the ruling and its relationship to other cases, but many just summarize the decisions. For instance, the entry on Lee v. Weisman Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577 (1992), represented a major political blow for proponents of prayer in the public schools. The decision came as something of a surprise to many legal and political analysts, but was in keeping with precedents established by the Court in similar cases. , an important case concerning clergy-delivered prayers at public school graduations, includes only a statement of the facts, a summary of Justice Anthony Kennedy's majority opinion, and a paragraph on Justice Antonin Scalia's dissent. Choosing 400 Court decisions from all the rulings over 200 years is inherently arbitrary. For the most part, the editor has done an excellent job of selecting major cases dealing with constitutional issues and civil rights law. The major surprising omission concerns decisions regarding federal court jurisdiction. Major cases involving standing to sue in federal court, such as Sierra Club v. Morton Sierra Club v. Morton, , is a famous United States Supreme Court case on the issue of standing in environmental lawsuits. , Warth v. Seldin Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490 (1975), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court reviewed the concept of judicial standing and affirmed that if the plaintiffs lacked standing, they could not maintain a case against the defendants. , and Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, , was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that a group of wildlife conservation and other environmental organizations lacked standing to challenge are omitted. Likewise, important rulings concerning the Eleventh Amendment, such as Fitzpatrick v. Bitzer Fitzpatrick v. Bitzer, 427 U.S. 445 (1976)[1], was a United States Supreme Court decision that determined that the U.S. Congress has the power to abrogate the Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity of the states, if this is done pursuant to its , are not included. Nor are there any key cases concerning the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, such as Henry v. Mississippi. In some areas, the editor's choice of cases is puzzling. The book includes Monell v. Department of Social Services, an important ruling concerning municipal liability under 42 U.S.C [sections] 1983. But it omits Monroe v. Pape, undoubtedly the Court's most significant decision concerning the statute. Another particularly surprising omission is Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents, 403 U.S. 388 (1971)[1], was a case in which the United States Supreme Court ruled that an implied cause of action existed for an individual whose Fourth Amendment freedom from unreasonable search and seizures had been of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics The Federal Bureau of Narcotics (or FBN) was an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury. In June, 1930, Harry J. Anslinger was appointed its first commissioner by Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon under President Herbert Hoover. , which established a cause of action against federal officers for constitutional violations. My greatest reservation about the book concerns its usefulness. How often will lawyers, judges, law professors, or students need short descriptions of Supreme Court decisions? There are several excellent treatises available on constitutional law that summarize these cases in narratives that make it easier to appreciate the significance of particular rulings. Each of the treatises is far more comprehensive and inclusive than this book. Yet, as a reference book, The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions is easy to use, especially with its alphabetical listing of 400 decisions and brief description of each. I imagine that I will use the guide most often when I want a citation for a decision quickly. Erwin Chemerinsky is Sydney M. Irmas Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of Southern California The U.S. News & World Report ranked USC 27th among all universities in the United States in its 2008 ranking of "America's Best Colleges", also designating it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 8,634 of the almost 34,000 who applied for freshman admission in Los Angeles. |
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