Constitutional Law in Contemporary America: Volume 1

David Schultz is Distinguished University Professor of Political Science, Environmental Studies, and Legal Studies at Hamline University, and Professor of Law at the University of St. Thomas and at the General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania. A licensed attorney in Minnesota and before the US Supreme Court, he has authored over 45 books and 200+ articles on election law, constitutional law, and American politics. A four-time Fulbright scholar and former editor-in-chief of the Journal of Public Affairs Education, he is widely cited in national and international media and has received multiple awards for teaching excellence. John R. Vile is a Professor of Political Science and Dean of the Honors College at Middle Tennessee State University. He has authored and edited numerous books on American Founding Fathers, the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the US Constitution, the constitutional amending process, great American symbols, presidential speeches, and religion and politics and is a co-editor and frequent contribution to the online First Amendment Encyclopedia. He was the Phi Kappa Phi Scholar for 2020–2022 and received the 2020–2011 MTSU Career Achievement Award. Michelle D. Deardorff is the Adolph S. Ochs Professor of Government at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; she has previously served as Professor of Political Science at Jackson State University, as well as the Griswold Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Millikin University. Deardorff's most recent book is Race and the Law in the United States: A Contemporary Perspective (Cambridge, 2025). She has served on the American Political Science Association's (APSA) governing council and as a Fulbright Senior Specialist to Albania. In 2021, the APSA's Political Science Education Section awarded her their Lifetime Achievement Award.

'The updates in the third edition bring students up to date on the far-reaching changes the Supreme Court has made to constitutional law in the US. I am quite impressed with the authors' clear ability to synergize these cases and changes into the development of law by the nation's high court.' Tim Johnson, University of Minnesota

• 1. Foundation, interpretation, and amendment of the constitution; 2. Nature of the federal union; 3. Legislative powers over commerce, taxing, and spending; 4. Congress; 5. President/executive branch; 6. Property rights and substantive due process; 7. Property rights and eminent domain; 8. State authority in a federal system; Appendices.