The Supreme Court and the Constitution in the 20th Century

Catalog description

The Constitution is the founding document of the United States. Yet ever since the process of ratification, the document's meaning-and questions about who gets to decide its meaning-have spurred pitched political battles, campaigns for elected office and social change, and arguments among ordinary voters from all walks of life. Americans have debated the question of what the Constitution means in courtrooms and legislatures, at lunch counters and on picket lines, outside medical clinics and in schools. Studying the Constitution in the 20th century means learning about how law, society, politics, and culture all interact. Through examination of nine defining cases and themes, we will discover how regular people, social movement activists and organizations, politicians, scholars, lawyers, and judges have fought about what the Constitution should mean inside and outside of the courtroom.