Law School Success & Study Aid Resources

Black Letter outlines are designed to help law students recognize and understand the basic principles and issues of law covered in law school courses. Black Letter outlines can be used both as a study aid when preparing for classes and as a review of the subject matter when studying for an examination. Each Black Letter outline is written by experienced law school professors who are recognized national authorities in their subject areas.

The authors, recognized authorities for over a third of a century, provide succinct and authoritative coverage of the major principles in modern American constitutional law. This book is a shortened version based on the authors' hornbook (popular with students) and their six-volume treatise (popular with judges, practitioners, and scholars). It analyzes the constitutional issues studied today, and discusses the origins of judicial review and federal jurisdiction, federal commerce and spending powers, state powers in light of the dormant Commerce Clause, the war power, freedom of speech and religion, equal protection, due process, and other important individual rights and liberties. This book is completely up to date and includes all major Supreme Court cases through February, 2016, including the ground breaking First Amendment decisions of the Roberts' Court.

This authoritative text provides a framework for understanding individual liberty and governmental power and the institutional role played by the Supreme Court of the United States. Coverage in this new improved edition includes all the major topics of the subject: judicial review: commerce clause and state powers: federalism: separation of powers: congressional and executive powers: and individual civil rights and civil liberties. Includes diagrams that aid understanding of the fundamentals of our system of government. Extremely accessible and comprehensive -- this is a paperback course in American Constitutional Law.

This 10th edition of Constitutional Law in a Nutshell summarizes constitutional law from Marbury v. Madison (1803), to the present. The goal has been to discuss the Supreme Court's cases in enough detail to be helpful but not to be verbose in doing so. In this edition we feature thirty new cases. Some of the highlights include Rucho v. Common Cause (2-10) where the Court held 5-4, per Chief Justice Roberts, that partisan gerrymandering is a non-justiciable issue beyond the competence of the federal judiciary. In Department of Commerce v. New York (2019), although the Court ruled that the Enumeration Clause of the Constitution grants authority to Congress and "by extension" to the Secretary of Commerce to include a question about citizenship on the 2020 Census questionnaire, the Court could not approve it because the rationale presented to the Court was contrived and was based on a pretext. In Timbs v. Indiana (2019), the Court demonstrated that there still is vitality in the incorporation doctrine and held that the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment is an "incorporated" protection applicable to the States under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The topics discussed in this law student study outline are the powers of federal government, including judicial power, powers of Congress, presidential power, foreign affairs power, and intergovernmental immunities. Also included are separation of powers, regulation of foreign commerce, and regulation of interstate commerce. It also covers taxation of interstate and foreign commerce, due process, equal protection, "state action" requirements, freedoms of speech, press, and association, and freedom of religion.

The proven Glannon Guide is a user-friendly study aid to use throughout the semester as a great supplement to (or substitute for) classroom lecture. Topics are broken down into manageable pieces and are explained in a conversational tone. Chapters are interspersed with hypotheticals like those posed in the classroom that include analysis of answers to ensure thorough understanding. Additionally, "The Closer" questions pose sophisticated hypotheticals at the end of each chapter to present cumulative review of earlier topics. More like classroom experiences, the Glannon Guide provides you with straightforward explanations of complex legal concepts, often in a humorous style that makes the material stick. The user-friendly Glannon Guide is your proven partner throughout the semester when you need a supplement to (or substitute for) classroom lecture. The material is broken into small, manageable pieces to help you master concepts. Multiple-choice questions are interspersed throughout each chapter (not lumped at the end) to mirror the flow of a classroom lecture. Correct and incorrect answers are carefully explained; you learn why they do or do not work. You can rely on authority; the series was created by Joseph W. Glannon―Harvard-educated, best-selling author of, among other legal texts, Examples & Explanations; Civil Procedure, now in its sixth edition. "The Closer" poses a sophisticated problem question at the end of each chapter to test your comprehension. A final "Closing Closer" provides you practice opportunity as well as a cumulative review of all the concepts from earlier chapters. You can check your understanding each step of the way. More like classroom experiences, these Guides provide straightforward explanations of complex legal concepts, often in a humorous style that makes the material stick.

High Court briefs are written to present the essential facts, issue, decision and rationale for each case in a clear, concise manner. While prepared briefs can never substitute for the insight gained by actually reading a case, these briefs will help readers to identify, understand, and absorb the core "take away" knowledge from each case. Moreover, these briefs are followed by a useful legal analysis, which provides extra tips and contextual background about each case, connecting the case to the broader concepts being developed throughout the casebook. This book also supplies case vocabulary, which defines new or unusual legal words found throughout the cases. Finally, to enhance the reader's recall, there is a corresponding memory graphic for each brief that portrays an entertaining visual representation of the relevant facts or law of the case.

This study guide includes 192 multiple-choice and short-answer questions arranged topically for ease of use during the semester, plus an additional set of 24 questions comprising a comprehensive "practice exam." For each multiple-choice question, the authors provide a detailed answer that indicates which of four options is the best answer and explains thoroughly why that option is better than the other three options. Each short-answer question is designed to be answered in fifteen minutes or less, and includes a thoughtful, comprehensive, yet brief model answer.

Designed to make the study of constitutional law simple, clear, and convenient, this text provides an overview of constitutional law plus a judicial review, including its limitations. Provides constitutional basis for the exercise of federal judicial power, national legislative power, sources and limitations of congressional power, and the separation of powers. Explores the relationship between branches of federal government, state power to regulate commerce, and constitutional limitations. Examines civil rights, retroactive legislation, procedural and substantive due process, equal protection, and freedom of speech and religion. Also addresses cruel and unusual punishment.

This efficient book takes the complex subject matter of Constitutional Law and makes it easier to understand and digest. World-renowned Villanova Law Dean and Professor Mark Alexander carefully explains the key concepts involved in Con Law and also brings it home with straightforward explanations of why you are reading and discussing the cases you are assigned every day. The subject matter runs the gamut from Marbury v. Madison and the structural side of the course to Due Process and Equal Protection. In addition, he provides exam-taking tips, and general words of guidance on how to make it through law school, and beyond, to a rewarding legal career.

Understanding Constitutional Law covers all of the central concepts and issues students encounter in any basic constitutional law course. Structure of Government issues revolve around the twin themes of federalism and separation of powers. Individual rights and liberties follow a concept organization-Due Process, Equal Protection, and First Amendment. Clearly written and authoritative, Understanding Constitutional Law addresses the central concepts and issues students encounter in most Constitutional Law casebooks. "Structure of government" issues revolve around the twin themes of federalism and separation of powers. Individual rights and liberties follow a concept organization - Due Process, Equal Protection, and First Amendment.

United States Constitutional Law guides law students, political science students, and engaged citizens through the complexities of U.S. Supreme Court doctrine--and its relationship to constitutional politics--in key areas ranging from federalism and presidential power to equal protection and substantive due process. Rather than approach constitutional law as a static structure or imagine the Supreme Court as acting in isolation from society, the book elaborates and clarifies key constitutional doctrines while also drawing on scholarship in law and political science that relates the doctrines to large social changes such as industrialization, social movements such as civil rights and second-wave feminism, and institutional tensions between governmental actors. Combining legal analysis with historical narrative and sensitivity to political context, the book provides deeper understanding of how constitutional law arises, functions, and changes in a complex, often-divided society.