Subjects:  1. Constitutional    2. Constitutional Law    3. General    4. Government - U.S. Government    5. Law    6. Legal Reference / Law Profession    7. Politics - Current Events    8. Constitutional & administrative law    9. Political Science / General   

Reviews (1)

Excellent book
If you need to learn immigration as a new area of law this book is highly recommended. I went from knowing nothing to handling immigration matters.It has definitions and explanations that are excellent.Good choice to add to your library. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Constitutional    2. Emigration & Immigration    3. Emigration And Immigration    4. Emigration and immigration law    5. Immigration and emigration    6. Law    7. Law and legislation    8. Legal Reference / Law Profession    9. Popular works    10. Practical Guides    11. United States    12. United States.    13. Immigration law    14. Law for the lay person    15. USA   

Subjects:  1. Aliens    2. Citizenship    3. Constitutional    4. Emigration & Immigration    5. Emigration And Immigration    6. Emigration and immigration law    7. Green cards    8. Law    9. Legal Reference / Law Profession    10. Popular works    11. Reference    12. United States   

Subjects:  1. Constitutional    2. Courts - Supreme Court    3. Interpretation and construction    4. Law    5. Legal Reference / Law Profession    6. Political questions and judicial power    7. Stare decisis    8. United States    9. United States - 20th Century    10. Courts & procedure    11. Jurisprudence & General Issues    12. Law / Constitutional    13. Political Science and International Relations    14. USA   

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Constitutional    3. Constitutional conventions    4. Constitutional history    5. History    6. Legal Reference / Law Profession    7. Reference    8. United States    9. Constitutional & administrative law    10. Law / Constitutional    11. USA   

Subjects:  1. Constitutional    2. Constitutional law    3. Law    4. Legal Reference / Law Profession    5. United States   

Subjects:  1. Constitutional    2. Constitutional History    3. Constitutions    4. History - U.S.    5. History: American    6. Political History    7. Political Science    8. United States    9. United States - General    10. American history    11. Constitution: government & the state    12. Constitutional & administrative law    13. Political Science / General    14. USA   

Subjects:  1. Africa, East    2. Africa, Southern    3. Air & Space    4. Commonwealth countries    5. Constitutional    6. Constitutional law    7. Law    8. Legal Reference / Law Profession    9. Politics and government    10. Africa    11. Comparative law    12. Constitutional & administrative law    13. Law / Air & Space   

Reviews (9)

Wrong Interpretation
Beard is known as a "progressive historian."You should know that before reading this book.As such, his interpretation is ... interesting but flawed.Beard's main point is that the Founding Fathers wanted to protect their economic interests.They wanted tokeep the common folk out of the political process and safeguard slavery.What Beard fails to note, and there is evidence that he was aware of these next points, is the following:
Just because you're paranoid....
A noted historian of the early twentieth century, Charles Beard was notorious for his non-traditional interpretations of economics as the driving force behind major historical events. In 1913, at the time of the original publication of this book, he was even considered to be a bit radical. Certainly, the main thrust of his monograph ruffled a few feathers, as it called into question the motives of our founding fathers, placing their feet firmly on mortal, fallible, self-interested grounds, as opposed to the lofty pedestals where they were usually enshrined.
A Good Place to Begin Thinking About What it Means to be an American
Jumping to the end of Charles Beard's book, his conclusions state the following:
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Subjects:  1. Constitutional    2. Constitutional history    3. Constitutions    4. Economic conditions    5. History & Theory - General    6. History - U.S.    7. Political Science    8. Politics/International Relations    9. To 1865    10. United States    11. United States - General    12. Economic theory & philosophy    13. Political Science / General    14. USA   

Reviews (1)

Judicial review as political insurance
Since the fall of communism in the late 80s and early 90s, new democracies have embraced constitutional courts exercising judicial review. Given the vicious attacks upon courts in the US, one often wonders why anyone would adopt constitutional courts with the power to attack the result of the democratic process, and push its own policy. Ginsburg presents a compelling answer: new democracies turn to constitutional courts as a source of political insurance. When creating a constitution, parties will be more willing to create a court when the political future is uncertain, where they predict that they will likely be in the minority and thus may require extra protection to ensure that the other party(s) will not be able to abuse them. Where a party believes it will be in solid control in the future, the court will likely be weaker because the dominant party would not want to limit its own powers. Ginsburg examines this theory against three case studies of Mongolia, Korea, and Taiwan; the experience of these three countries strongly supports the political insurance theory. This interesting, original work presents judicial review as an integral part of democracy especially in countries without prior democratic experience. Additionally, Ginsburg examines courts in areas that have received little attention in the US, thus, anyone interested in non-western constitutionalism should check this book out. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Civil Procedure    2. Constitutional courts    3. Democratization    4. East Asia    5. International    6. Judicial power    7. Judicial review    8. Law    9. Legal Reference / Law Profession    10. ASIA    11. Comparative law    12. Constitutional & administrative law    13. International Law    14. Law / International    15. Law-Civil Procedure    16. Political structures: democracy   

Reviews (10)

Individual Power and the Judicial Process
I work at a University Library and see many, many books. This book caught my eye and I found myself compelled to read it. The situation in our government seems to leave many people I talk to feeling discouraged and powerless. Iron's book reminds us that we don't have to be powerless. Peter Irons, The Courage of Their Convictions (1990)
I have used this book three times in UC and CSU public law classes have taught: Intro to Judicial Process, Intro to Judicial Politics, and American Government.It is a personalized, almost biographical approach to leading constitutional rights cases, replete with the "human" as well as "legal" story behind each of the 16 cases.Though short on some of the important legal arguments at the Supreme Court level, it covers well the dispositons and judicial personalities of the lower courts.More importantly, however, it deals with the suffering and courage of the litigants themselves. The Courage of Their Convictions: Sixteen Americans
This was a fantastic book!People may know about some Supreme Court decisions and its impact but I do not think people understand why such important cases were brought before the Supreme Court.We never learn in school who these people were, (they are everyday people) and exactly how much courage and determination it takes to fight your case to the Supreme Court (after all I think S.C hears about 1% of all cases filed to the Court).Irons is an academic but boy you can read this in a day-this is not a dreaded book you are assigned to read for school. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Case studies    2. Cases    3. Civil Procedure    4. Civil rights    5. General    6. History    7. History: World    8. Legal System    9. Politics / Current Events    10. Reference    11. Supreme Court    12. United States    13. United States.    14. Business strategy    15. History / United States / General    16. Quality Assurance (QA) & Total Quality Management (TQM)   

Subjects:  1. Cases    2. Constitutional    3. Constitutional law    4. Law   

Subjects:  1. Constitutional Law    2. Constitutional history    3. Equity    4. History    5. Sociology    6. United States    7. Constitutional & administrative law   

Subjects:  1. Cases    2. Constitutional    3. Gender & the Law    4. Law and legislation    5. Legal Reference / Law Profession    6. Legal status, laws, etc.    7. Sex discrimination against women    8. Social Science    9. Sociological jurisprudence    10. Sociology    11. United States    12. Women    13. Women's Studies - General    14. Civil rights & citizenship    15. Constitutional & administrative law    16. USA    17. Women's studies   

Subjects:  1. Campaign funds    2. Constitutional    3. Government - Judicial Branch    4. History    5. Law and legislation    6. Law reform    7. Legal History    8. Legal Reference / Law Profession    9. Political Process - Elections    10. Political Science    11. Politics/International Relations    12. United States    13. Political campaigning & advertising    14. USA   

Subjects:  1. Constitutional    2. Law   

Subjects:  1. Constitutional    2. Encyclopedias    3. General    4. Government - Legislative Branch    5. Government - U.S. Government    6. Law    7. Law (General)    8. Politics / Current Events    9. Politics/International Relations    10. U.S. Congress (General)    11. United States    12. Central government    13. Laws of Other Jurisdictions & General Law    14. USA   

Reviews (1)

Fine but superseded
This is an impressive study, but it should be allowed to go out of print.Barendt has done a second edition (2005), which supersedes this one. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Civil Rights    2. Comparative    3. Freedom of speech    4. Law    5. Legal Reference / Law Profession    6. Media & the Law    7. Political Freedom & Security - Civil Rights    8. Constitutional & administrative law    9. Freedom of information & freedom of speech    10. Law / Media & the Law    11. Law | Constitutional Law   

Reviews (4)

Not the book I would choose for a class text
This is a well thought-out text that offers good clean insight into the historical background of the Constitution. I, personally, enjoyed reading it. My students, however, glaze over on the first page. It is written as more of a historical narrative and offers none of the washed out "end of chapter" ammenitites that we have come to rely upon. No powerpoints, test banks, etc.... It is simply too much of a "chunky monkey" that puts the reader in the position of intensely reading the material and constructing complex notes. This is the text I wish my students would eagerly read and engage themselves in, but then there is reality. Verdict - for use as an undergratuate class text - no. For use as a personal research primer or graduate text - yes.

Poor Teacher
Simply put, this book does relatively little in the way of actually teaching anything.Its main strength lies in explaining the Constitution line by line with commentary and extensive historical backing.However, the book simply lays out a TON of commentary without actually teaching the student anything at all.There are no questions for thought until the very end of the chapter, and the commentary following the Constitution's lines are most often altogether devoid of subheadings for organizational benefit.It is a very plain text that will provide a lot of information, but in a relatively meaningless manner for many individuals.Moreover, the commentary is interminably boring in nature, and thus an appeal to the reader's sense cannot be hoped for.
Don't buy this book
They removed my last review, maybe this one will make it.Don't buy this book.Its written by a pack of convoluted thinking leftist bedwetters.if you want a factual book about the U.S. Constitution buy one published by the Cato Institute. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Constitutional    2. Constitutional law    3. General    4. Poetry    5. Political Science    6. Politics/International Relations    7. United States    8. POLITICS & GOVERNMENT    9. Political Science / General   

Reviews (3)

Necessary Information for a necessary process
This is a book for the serious political participant and observer.It is technical in its nature although fairly easy to read and comprehend.Gerhardt is straightforward in his purpose: (1) provide readers with a historical perspective on Federal impeachment processes and (2) provide readers with necessary information on just what impeachment means and how the process works.He achieves both purposes very well.Since there is at least a possibility of one Congressional house changing party control in November, and that the new party in control (Democrats) likely will call for the impeachment of George W. Bush, citizens should be well informed on what the process means and how it impacts their nation.This book is an excellent choice for becoming so informed.

Well written overview for both lawyers and general readers.
Thought provoking and clearily written. While primarily limited in scopeto impeachment of federal judges (because more cases exist), theinformation on the origin of the impeachment provisions in the federalConstitution and the thinking behind the adoption of the provisions by theframers is relevant to issues of presidential impeachment. The reader willfind that it is useful as a guide to following the current hearings of theHouse Judiciary Committee as the members refer to precedents andhistory. A thorough and well-written guide to impeachment
The last major treatments of impeachment were written by Raoul Berger andCharles Black a quarter century ago.Yet, in fact, quite a bit hashappened since then:though no Presidents have been impeached (so far),cases involving federal judges in particular have made new law and raisednew questions.Gerhardt's book goes into more depth than either Black orBerger, and provides an excellent guide to a wide range of issues. Gerhardt is more a Blackian than a Bergerian -- heavily influenced bystructure and relationship, and prone to avoid judicial review ofimpeachment in most circumstances.An excellent book, and well-written. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Constitutional    2. Government - Legislative Branch    3. Government - U.S. Government    4. Impeachments    5. Law    6. Political Process - Leadership    7. Political Science    8. Politics / Current Events    9. United States    10. Constitutional & administrative law    11. Political Science / Congress    12. Political science & theory    13. USA