Constitutional Amendments & the U.S. Supreme Court: Home

The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution were written to prevent the federal government from passing laws that violate basic human rights. Originally regarded by most as an unnecessary safeguard, they have been a great influence on American law and politics over the past two centuries. This anthology will include primary source material on the Bill of Rights and the important role it has played in American history.

Is it fair to restrict certain students' rights in order to make schools safer?

-- A library of the most important United States Supreme Court cases. -- Examines the issues leading up to the case, the people involved in the case, and the present-day effects of the Court's decision.

Primary and secondary sources present differing perspectives on the history of free speech in America, balancing free speech with community order and national security, obscenity, and current controversies.

Primary and secondary sources present differing perspectives on the intent of the Founding Fathers in protecting individual gun rights and whether they intended citizens to be armed, the Supreme Court cases dealing with gun owners' rights, and popula

This book provides an analysis of the Fifth Amendment's takings clause, from its origin in British theories of property rights to the United States Supreme Court's interpretation of the clause over the years.

The Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination has slowly evolved into a unique American "right to remain silent." This anthology examines the protection's origins in the English court system, features famous case studies of people who have "pled the Fifth," and examines the future of this special right in the wake of twenty-first century legal developments.

Primary and secondary sources present differing perspectives on the right to a fair trial, the societal interests of fair trials, and controversies about what constitutes a fair trial.

Primary and secondary sources present differing perspectives on the right to a jury trial, the Supreme Court definition of the right to a jury trial, and controversies surrounding the right.

Primary and secondary sources present differing perspectives on the history of prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment, the eighth amendment, execution of the mentally retarded, and what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

Primary and secondary sources present differing perspectives on the history of due process, due process and the rights of the accused, due process and civil liberties, and other issues concerning the legal status of due process.