This book is a collection of comprehensive background essays coupled with carefully edited Supreme Court case excerpts designed to explore constitutional law and the role of the Supreme Court in its development and interpretation. Well-grounded in both theory and politics, the book endeavors to heighten students’ understanding of this critical part of the American political system.

NEW TO THE 19th EDITION

• An account of the recent Supreme Court transitions, including the Biden Court commission, the appointment of Ketanji Brown Jackson, and the heightened political and ethical difficulties facing the Court.

• Five new cases carefully edited and excerpted, including Minor v. Happersett (1875) on gender and voting rights, Trump v. Anderson (2024) on access to the ballot, Carson v. Makin (2022) on religious freedom, New York Rifle & Pistol Assn. v. Bruen (2023) on Second Amendment rights, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2023) on abortion rights, and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, together with Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina on affirmative action.

• Twenty-one new cases discussed in chapter essays.

• Tips on reading a Supreme Court decision remains as a box in Chapter One.

Donald Grier Stephenson, Jr. is Charles A. Dana Professor of Government, Emeritus, at Franklin and Marshall College where he taught from 1970 until 2017. Reared on a farm near Covington, Georgia, he is a graduate of Davidson College (1964) and received the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton University in 1966 and 1967, respectively. Between 1968 and 1970 he was in the United States Army, completing his service at the rank of captain. He is author of Campaigns and the Court: The U.S. Supreme Court in Presidential Elections (1999), The Waite Court (2003), and The Right to Vote (2004), and is coauthor of American Constitutional Law (18th ed. 2022) and Introduction to American Government (11th ed., 2021). He writes “The Judicial Bookshelf” for the Journal of Supreme Court History.

Alpheus Thomas Mason (late) was McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence Emeritus at Princeton University.