Melvin I. Urofsky – författare

A March of Liberty is a clearly written, comprehensive overview of American constitutional development from the founding of the English colonies down through the decisions of the latest term of the Supreme Court. It presents the most comprehensive overview of American constitutional development now available, reflecting the latest in contemporary scholarship. The authors examine in detail the great cases handed down by the Supreme Court, showing how these cases played out in the society at large and how constitutional growth parallels change in American culture. The authors also look at lesser known decisions that played important roles in effecting change, and at the justices who made these decisions. The book offers students of American constitutional history a complete reference work which is intelligible to the layperson as well as to the specialist.

Supreme Decisions: Great Constitutional Cases and Their Impact, Volumes 1, covers twenty-four Supreme Court cases  that have shaped American constitutional law. Interpretive chapters shed light on the nuances of each case, the individuals involved, and the social, political, and cultural context at that particular moment in history. Discussing cases from nearly every decade in a two-hundred-year span, Melvin I. Urofsky expounds on the political climate of the United States from the country's infancy through the new millennium. Featuring Marbury v. Madison, Dred Scott v. Sandford, Miranda v. Arizona, Brown v. Board of Education, and many more, this text covers foundational rulings and more recent decisions. Written with students in mind, Melvin I. Urofsky's voice offers compelling and fascinating accounts of American legal milestones.

Supreme Decisions: Great Constitutional Cases and Their Impact, covers twenty-four Supreme Court cases (twelve per volume) that have shaped American constitutional law. Interpretive chapters shed light on the nuances of each case, the individuals involved, and the social, political, and cultural context at that particular moment in history. Discussing cases from nearly every decade in a two-hundred-year span, Melvin I. Urofsky expounds on the political climate of the United States from the country's infancy through the new millennium. Featuring Marbury v. Madison, Dred Scott v. Sandford, Miranda v. Arizona, Brown v. Board of Education, and many more, this text covers foundational rulings and more recent decisions. Written with students in mind, Melvin I. Urofsky's voice offers compelling and fascinating accounts of American legal milestones.

Supreme Decisions: Great Constitutional Cases and Their Impact, Volumes 1 and 2, covers twenty-four Supreme Court cases (twelve per volume) that have shaped American constitutional law. Interpretive chapters shed light on the nuances of each case, the individuals involved, and the social, political, and cultural context at that particular moment in history. Discussing cases from nearly every decade in a two-hundred-year span, Melvin I. Urofsky expounds on the political climate of the United States from the country's infancy through the new millennium. Featuring Marbury v. Madison, Dred Scott v. Sandford, Miranda v. Arizona, Brown v. Board of Education, and many more, this text covers foundational rulings and more recent decisions. Written with students in mind, Melvin I. Urofsky's voice offers compelling and fascinating accounts of American legal milestones.

What makes a president great? Here is the ideal source for students, scholars, and the general public. The American Presidents is a collection of articles that analyze and evaluate the presidential careers of the men who have occupied the office since its inception in 1789. In this volume, the leading presidential historians in the United States offer insights into what makes a president great, mediocre, or--in the case of most of them--something in between. The contributors to The American Presidents were not asked to write straightforward biographies of the presidents; other sources are available for that. Rather, they were asked to evaluate their subjects. No strict patterns were imposed by the editor; each author approached his or her subject in the way that best illustrated the strengths and weaknesses of the president under consideration. Forty-one have held the office of president and all, in one way or another, were exceptional men. Some, like Andrew Jackson and Harry Truman, are usually thought of as representing the common folk, but nothing was common about either of them. Each proved to be an extraordinary and singular politician able to rally and represent the country through the challenges of their times. Some presidents had achieved brilliance in other fields (Ulysses Grant in the military and Herbert Hoover as an engineer and humanitarian, for example) but had presidencies that are considered unsuccessful. What accounts for this seeming paradox, in which insight, sensitivity, and competence suddenly become nontransferable when the man reaches the White House? This book offers the reader multiple perspectives on this and other issues. Examination of the ways in which challenges affect presidential greatness Theodore Roosevelt, a successful president by any standard, was acutely aware that the prosperity and peace the country enjoyed during his two terms in office would, ironically, prevent him from reaching the upper tier of greatness enjoyed by Washington and Lincoln. After he left office, he yearned to return in hope of finding the challenge that would seal his greatness. Earlier, in the late nineteenth century, the electorate placed competent men such as Rutherford B. Hayes, Grover Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrison in the White House, but they are little remembered today. None faced earth-shaking challenges at home and abroad, and their presidencies slipped into obscurity. Discussion of personal characteristics and presidential performance For more than two centuries the presidency has proved a remarkably durable institution. Presidential personalities have varied widely from the patrician aloofness of Washington to the moody introspection of Lincoln to the noisy exuberance of Theodore Roosevelt. The articles in The American Presidents consider the ways in which personality has affected performance. Special features *41 signed essays by the leading experts, illustrated with portraits of the presidents *Selected bibliographies *At-a-glance summaries of each president's achievements *Useful charts and tables on cabinet members, first ladies, and vice presidents from Washington to Clinton *Addresses and Web sites for major presidential libraries.

In two 1997 decisions, the Supreme Court ruled that there is no constitutional right to physician-assisted suicide. Yet for many people the concept strikes to the heart of notions of liberty. This text examines those cases, the law surrounding the claims and the moral debate around the issue.

Illuminating a classic case from the turbulent civil rights era of the 1960s, two of America’s foremost legal historians—Kermit Hall and Melvin Urofsky—provide a compact and highly readable updating of one of the most memorable decisions in the Supreme Court’s canon.When the New York Times published an advertisement that accused Alabama officials of willfully abusing civil rights activists, Montgomery police commissioner Lester Sullivan filed suit for defamation. Alabama courts, citing factual errors in the ad, ordered the Times to pay half a million dollars in damages. The Times appealed to the Supreme Court, which had previously deferred to the states on libel issues. The justices, recognising that Alabama’s application of libel law threatened both the nation’s free press and equal rights for African Americans, unanimously sided with the Times. As memorably recounted twenty years ago in Anthony Lewis’s Make No Law, the 1964 decision profoundly altered defamation law, which the Court declared must not hinder debate on public issues even if it includes “vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.” The decision also introduced a new First Amendment test: a public official cannot recover damages for libel unless he proves that the statement was made with the knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false. Hall and Urofsky, however, place a new emphasis on this iconic case. Whereas Lewis’s book championed freedom of the press, the authors here provide a stronger focus on civil rights and southern legal culture. They convey to readers the urgency of the civil rights movement and the vitriolic anger it inspired in the Deep South. Their insights place this landmark case within a new and enlightening frame.

Rarely does the Supreme Court reverse itself as quickly and profoundly as it did in recent campaign finance cases, with the Citizens United decision of 2010 undoing the constraints of the McCain-Feingold Act upheld in McConnell v. Federal Election Commission (2003). And rarely have the stakes seemed so high, as billionaires vie for elected office and dark money floods political campaigns. In timely fashion, this new edition updates Melvin Urofsky's classic study of campaign finance law, bringing his cogent analysis of the relevant statutes and court cases up to date.Urofsky explains in clear and convincing language what was - and is - at stake in the twists and turns of campaign finance laws taken up by the nation's highest court in the past decades. Beginning with Buckley v. Valeo (1976) and moving through McConnell, Citizens United, and finally McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission (2014), Urofsky discusses the two principles at issue in these cases: freedom of political speech, and the protection of the political process from undue influence. Conventional wisdom holds that in such cases liberals want greater restrictions and conservatives want corporations to have greater freedom to influence voters. But working from a rich store of primary sources, probing the motivations and ideas of all participants in the campaign finance legal story, Urofsky reveals a far more complex picture, one whose significance transcends simple political ideologies.In a time of controversies over political speech in the blogosphere, social media, and cable news, and claims of electoral fraud, The Campaign Finance Cases offers a much-needed, balanced account of how issues critical to American democracy figure in the adjudication of campaign finance law, and how a changing political and media landscape might alter the process.

Supreme Decisions: Great Constitutional Cases and Their Impact, Volumes 1, covers twenty-four Supreme Court cases that have shaped American constitutional law. Interpretive chapters shed light on the nuances of each case, the individuals involved, and the social, political, and cultural context at that particular moment in history. Discussing cases from nearly every decade in a two-hundred-year span, Melvin I. Urofsky expounds on the political climate of the United States from the country's infancy through the new millennium. Featuring Marbury v. Madison, Dred Scott v. Sandford, Miranda v. Arizona, Brown v. Board of Education, and many more, this text covers foundational rulings and more recent decisions. Written with students in mind, Melvin I. Urofsky's voice offers compelling and fascinating accounts of American legal milestones.

Supreme Decisions: Great Constitutional Cases and Their Impact, covers twenty-four Supreme Court cases (twelve per volume) that have shaped American constitutional law. Interpretive chapters shed light on the nuances of each case, the individuals involved, and the social, political, and cultural context at that particular moment in history. Discussing cases from nearly every decade in a two-hundred-year span, Melvin I. Urofsky expounds on the political climate of the United States from the country's infancy through the new millennium. Featuring Marbury v. Madison, Dred Scott v. Sandford, Miranda v. Arizona, Brown v. Board of Education, and many more, this text covers foundational rulings and more recent decisions. Written with students in mind, Melvin I. Urofsky's voice offers compelling and fascinating accounts of American legal milestones.

Supreme Decisions: Great Constitutional Cases and Their Impact, Volumes 1 and 2, covers twenty-four Supreme Court cases (twelve per volume) that have shaped American constitutional law. Interpretive chapters shed light on the nuances of each case, the individuals involved, and the social, political, and cultural context at that particular moment in history. Discussing cases from nearly every decade in a two-hundred-year span, Melvin I. Urofsky expounds on the political climate of the United States from the country's infancy through the new millennium. Featuring Marbury v. Madison, Dred Scott v. Sandford, Miranda v. Arizona, Brown v. Board of Education, and many more, this text covers foundational rulings and more recent decisions. Written with students in mind, Melvin I. Urofsky's voice offers compelling and fascinating accounts of American legal milestones.

100 Americans Making Constitutional History: A Biographical History presents 100 profiles of the key people behind some of the most important U.S. Supreme Court cases. Edited by Melvin I. Urofsky, a respected constitutional historian, each 2,000-word profile delves into the social and political context behind landmark Court decisions. For example, while a case like Brown v. Board of Education is about an important idea the equal protection of the law at its heart it is the story of a little girl, Linda Brown, who wanted to go to a decent school near her home. The outcome is accessible and objective stories about the individuals heroes and scoundrels who fought their way to constitutional history.

100 Americans Making Constitutional History helps students understand the human side of the Supreme Court's decisions from the early republic to the present. Each biographical profile, written by a constitutional scholar or legal analyst, includes a discussion about the Court decision and how the specific legal issues evolved into great constitutional questions and drama. It puts a face and history to major cases by reminding the reader that there are people behind them, seeking vindication of their individual liberties and civil rights.

Each profile includes a brief bibliography for further research. Excellent for undergraduate students studying American government, American history, Constitutional Law and journalism.

Sample List of Litigants

Larry Flynt- Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell (1988) Elmer Gertz- Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. (1974) Demetrio Rodriguez- Rodriguez v. San Antonio Independent School District (1973) Curt Flood- Flood v. Kuhn (1972) Estelle Griswold- Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) Linda Brown- Brown v. Board of Education (1954) Gordon Hirabayashi- Hirabayashi v. United states (1943) Eugene Debs- Debs v. United states (1919) William Marbury- Marbury v. Madison (1803)

A Publication of the Supreme Court Historical Society Preface by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist

Few decisions in constitutional law have had as dramatic an impact on American life as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954). This collection of essays published by the Supreme Court Historical Society and CQ Press to commemorate Brown's 50th anniversary, captures the complex history and legacy of the decision that changed public education and race relations in America.

Leading constitutional scholars chronicle the path of the law from Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) legitimating "separate but equal" in all realms of public life to Brown holding segregated schools to be "inherently unequal" in 1954.

The essays in Black, White and Brown examine:

How civil rights litigators chipped away at the logic underpinning the separate-but-equal doctrine, focusing their greatest efforts on exposing the injustice of segregation in education. These essays bring that struggle into clearer focus. The challenges in enforcing Brown and its impact on African-American rights and race relations in America. How public and scholarly opinion about the case has changed over the last five decades and what lessons can be learned from Brown. The role that the lawsuit played in the lives of some of the litigants, the justices, the law clerks, and the attorneys who argued the case.

High school students and educators will find a lively, easy-to-read collection that makes the complex constitutional and social issues comprehensible. For educators, the volume includes an essay that traces the best methods and resources for teaching the case in the classroom. Also included are a bibliographic essay, index to aid further research, and nine pages of illustrations.

Historically, U.S. citizens have accepted most Supreme Court decisions without protest, but there have also been rulings that have aroused public anger, condemnation and defiance. These public reactions and the debates they have inspired have helped shape the social and political character of the nation.

The Public Debate Over Controversial Supreme Court Decisions explores public reaction to over forty of the most well known and contentious cases ruled upon by the Court. The renowned cases covered begin with those from early in U.S. history, such as McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) and the Dred Scott decision (1857), to recent cases that have fanned the flames of debate over current highly-charged issues such as abortion (Roe v. Wade, 1973) and homosexual rights (Lawrence v. Texas, 2003).

The book presents information through a unique integration of essays and primary source documents that bring both context and a sense of immediacy to the cases discussed. Each case entry includes:

An informative introductory essay that explains: The facts of the case; The Court's ruling and its importance; A brief overview of the scope and magnitude of public response, with narrative thread tying together primary sources. Primary source selections from a wide range of public responses, including: Newspapers and magazines; Public opinion polls; Letters written about the case and to the justices; Comments or speeches made by presidents, members of Congress, and other public figures.

The Public Debate Over Controversial Supreme Court Decisions is designed to fit into high school social studies and college curriculums. Public libraries will want this resource in their collections for any patrons who want to learn about the importance of these controversial cases in their own lives as citizens.

A comprehensive appraisal of the Supreme Court during the fractious period that bridged the court-packing fight of the Hughes years and the rights explosion of the Warren era. During these years the Court ruled on a range of controversial cases, including the crimes of Nazi saboteurs.

A survey and analysis of the historical context, key figures, and lasting legacy of the Warren Court.Earl Warren served as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1953 until the end of the tumultuous 1960s. This book shows why conservative critics still view this court as out of control and leftist, while its liberal fans still cheer what they view as the court's progressive activism.Among this court's contributions to American life are the rights accorded to the accused in Miranda v. Arizona, the limits it placed on school prayer, and the abolition of school segregation in Brown v. Board of Education. To understand such basic American principles as equal protection, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, separation of church and state, the rights of the accused, and the right to privacy, every citizen should understand the Warren Court.

This volume provides in a single source a thorough grounding in the origin, development, and current controversies surrounding the free practice of religion.The first boatloads of European settlers did not come to America advocating religious tolerance. They came seeking the freedom to practice their own religion. Other sects, they believed, were wrong at best and, at worst, not to be tolerated.The question of what constitutes "legitimate," constitutionally protected religious practice has been debated ever since. Does it include the use of peyote? Polygamy? Refusing medical care for a sick child? Freedom of Religion follows the evolving understanding of the concept of religious freedom from Great Britain to the New World, through hundreds of U.S. courtrooms, to the volatile modern-day issues of school prayer and faith-based initiatives. The thorough, responsible, and cool-headed analysis presented here offers readers a solid grounding in the constitutional issues behind the headlines.Four chapters discuss the development of religious freedom from its roots in tribal societies through key court decisions of the 1990sA chronology outlines significant events and court decisions from 1776 to 2001, and a table lists all of the pertinent cases alphabetically

What makes a president great? Here is the ideal source for students, scholars, and the general public. The American Presidents is a collection of articles that analyze and evaluate the presidential careers of the men who have occupied the office since its inception in 1789. In this volume, the leading presidential historians in the United States offer insights into what makes a president great, mediocre, or--in the case of most of them--something in between. The contributors to The American Presidents were not asked to write straightforward biographies of the presidents; other sources are available for that. Rather, they were asked to evaluate their subjects. No strict patterns were imposed by the editor; each author approached his or her subject in the way that best illustrated the strengths and weaknesses of the president under consideration. Forty-one have held the office of president and all, in one way or another, were exceptional men. Some, like Andrew Jackson and Harry Truman, are usually thought of as representing the common folk, but nothing was common about either of them. Each proved to be an extraordinary and singular politician able to rally and represent the country through the challenges of their times. Some presidents had achieved brilliance in other fields (Ulysses Grant in the military and Herbert Hoover as an engineer and humanitarian, for example) but had presidencies that are considered unsuccessful. What accounts for this seeming paradox, in which insight, sensitivity, and competence suddenly become nontransferable when the man reaches the White House? This book offers the reader multiple perspectives on this and other issues. Examination of the ways in which challenges affect presidential greatness Theodore Roosevelt, a successful president by any standard, was acutely aware that the prosperity and peace the country enjoyed during his two terms in office would, ironically, prevent him from reaching the upper tier of greatness enjoyed by Washington and Lincoln. After he left office, he yearned to return in hope of finding the challenge that would seal his greatness. Earlier, in the late nineteenth century, the electorate placed competent men such as Rutherford B. Hayes, Grover Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrison in the White House, but they are little remembered today. None faced earth-shaking challenges at home and abroad, and their presidencies slipped into obscurity. Discussion of personal characteristics and presidential performance For more than two centuries the presidency has proved a remarkably durable institution. Presidential personalities have varied widely from the patrician aloofness of Washington to the moody introspection of Lincoln to the noisy exuberance of Theodore Roosevelt. The articles in The American Presidents consider the ways in which personality has affected performance. Special features *41 signed essays by the leading experts, illustrated with portraits of the presidents *Selected bibliographies *At-a-glance summaries of each president's achievements *Useful charts and tables on cabinet members, first ladies, and vice presidents from Washington to Clinton *Addresses and Web sites for major presidential libraries.

First Published in 1996. The key issue in all right-to-die matters is “who decides?” Who will decide whether life support should be terminated? Who will decide if a person is competent to make life and death decisions? The law is quite clear that, in cases of conscious, competent adults, the individual is free to make all decisions relating to his or her care and future. This volume is a collection of writings and case studies around the topics of personal choice, AIDS and informed consent, due process and the right to die.

The letters in this volume record an important transition in Brandeis's life. In July 1907, when the letters begin, Louis D. Brandeis was merely an unusually successful local reformer. His earlier victories against the Boston Elevated and the Boston Consolidated Gas Company, even his stunning success in the achievement of the Savings Bank Life Insurance law in Massachusetts, all centered exclusively upon Boston or Massachusetts problems. But by December 1912, when this book ends, Brandeis was one of the best known social activists in the United States.He received regular national attention in popular periodicals and advised the newly elected President of the United States. As these letters show, Brandeis always kept one eye on Massachusetts affairs-supervising the inauguration of the insurance reform, continuing to oppose long-term franchises for the subway, and advising Massachusetts governors on proposed bills and prospective appointments. But he devoted the major part of his energy in this five-and-a-half-year period to a series of crusades of crucial national importance.He attacked the attempt of Mellen and Morgan to gain a monopoly hold over new England transportation as he strenuously and doggedly opposed the merger of the Boston & Maine with the New Haven railroad. He entered, in a leading role, the most celebrated conservation battle of his generation, the Pinchot-Ballinger controversy, and he emerged as a major spokesman for the preservation and orderly development of natural resources. He helped to hammer together an arbitration mechanism to maintain industrial peace within the New York garment trades, a mechanism he believed would have broad implications for the future of industrial democracy in America. He battled the demands of the railroads for increased rates; he joined the crusade for efficiency and scientific management; and he directed repeated blows against the huge concentrations of economic power within the national economy.It should not be surprising that Brandeis and Robert M. LaFollette were drawn together, and these letters will show both the extent of that relationship and the way in which Brandeis's influence spread to other progressives in Congress. Other matters-his earliest Zionist activities, his achievement in defending progressive state legislation before the Supreme Court, his interest in Alaskan development along conservationist lines, his plan for the regularity of employment, his role in the Presidential campaign of 1912-are all part of his work during these turbulent years and are all touched upon in greater or lesser detail in these letters.

With the election of Woodrow Wilson in 1912, Louis D. Brandeis emerged as the undisputed intellectual leader of those reformers who were trying to recreate a democratic society free from the economic and political depradations of monopolistic enterprise. But now these reformers had a champion in the White House, and direct access to him through one of his most trusted advisers. In this volume we see what was probably the high point of progressive reform-the first three years of the Wilson Administration. During these years Brandeis was considered for a Cabinet position, consulted frequently on matters of patronage, and called in at key junctures to determine policy.But he still kept up his many obligations to different reform groups: arguing cases before the Supreme Court, acting as public counsel in rate hearings, writing Other People's Money, one of the key exposés of the era, as well as advising his good friend Robert M. LaFollette and other reform leaders.Yet at the height of his career as a reformer, Brandeis suddenly took on another heavy obligation, the leadership of the American Zionist movement, and helped marshal Jews in this country to aid their brethren in war-ravaged Europe and Palestine. Carrying over his democratic ideals, he challenged the established American Jewish aristocracy in the Congress movement, in order to broaden the base of Jewish participation in important issues. At the end of 1915, Brandeis was an important figure not only in domestic reform and Jewish affairs, but on the international scene as well. And although no one knew it at the time, he stood at the brink of nomination to the nation's highest court.As in the earlier volumes, these letters indicate the inner workings of American reform, and they also show how American Zionism, under the leadership of Brandeis and his lieutenants, assumed those characteristics that would make it a unique and powerful instrument in world politics.

Covers the later years of his life, closing with his death.This volume, which opens after the great schism in the Zionist movement and closes with Brandeis's death, depicts him trying, in a variety of ways, to make the world a better place. Once again, the scope of his interests and the intensity of his involvement is astounding. He writes on Zionism, Palestine, the liberal press, economics, the University of Louisville, family affairs, Savings Bank Life Insurance, the Harvard Law School, unemployment compensation, prohibition enforcement, civil liberties, and much more. The book also includes a cumulative index to all five volumes that will make it easier for students and scholars to trace the various threads that were woven together in the quite remarkable life of this one man.

In the first half of this century, a talented and charismatic leadership restructured the American Jewish community to meet the demands and opportunities of a pluralistic, secular society. The work of this generation of titans still guides the current modes of American Jewish life. The last of these giants was the influential reformer Stephen S. Wise—a progenitor of American Zionism, creator of the American and World Jewish Congresses, and founder of the Jewish Institute of Religion. As rabbi of the Free Synagogue, Wise led the fight for a living Judaism responsive to social problems.This engrossing study is more than a chronicle of an ethnic community's adjustment to a host society. Thanks to Melvin Urofsky's painstaking research, it succeeds in revealing the true story behind a legendary and controversial figure in American Jewish history.