Maggs and Smith's Constitutional Law: Undergraduate Edition, Volume 1

This edition of the casebook is designed specifically for use by undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in Constitutional Law but who are not law students. The casebook differs from many other textbooks aimed at this audience because it enables students to read the Supreme Court’s decisions rather than just reading about them. To make this possible, the casebook defines legal terms, explains court procedures, and provides other background information that would be unfamiliar to non-law students. In writing the book, the authors have strived to make constitutional law easily teachable and readily accessible. They have selected the cases very carefully and provided extensive excerpts of the opinions so that students get a good sense of the Court's reasoning. Text boxes call the students' attention to important aspects of each opinion, and the book is filled with introductions, points for discussion, hypotheticals, and executive summaries. The authors present a diversity of views on every subject, and, reflecting some of their own disagreements, the authors have written point-counterpoint discussions on many disputed questions.