Communication & Design

While exercising its power to review the constitutionality of governmental action, the Supreme Court has relied on certain "methods" or "modes" of interpretation--that is, ways of figuring out a particular meaning of provision within the Constitution. The first chapter or report broadly describes the most common modes of constitutional interpretation. The next chapters herein examine the Speech or Debate Clause of the US Constitution; provides an overview of Congress's power under the Constitution and Congress's role in interpreting the nation's founding document; and discusses contemporary issues for Congress with regards to Article V of the US Constitution, and the two methods by which the nation's founding charter may be amended.

This work explains the nature of constitutional rights. It does so by means of an analysis of the nature of law in general, the nature of constitutions, and the nature of rights. It looks in detail at several aspects of constitutional law, rights and institutions, as well as aspects related to public officials, private persons and associations. In addition, the book critically examines a considerable number of debates about whether some actual or proposed constitutional rights ought to be established and maintained in the United States constitution.

The Gun Debate: What Everyone Needs to Know delves into the issues that Americans debate when they talk about guns. With a balanced and broad-ranging approach, noted economist Philip J. Cook and political scientist Kristin A. Goss thoroughly cover the latest research, data, and developments on gun ownership, gun violence, the firearms industry, and the regulation of firearms.

The Gun Debate: An Encyclopedia of Gun Control & Gun Rights covers the subject of gun control and issues raised deal with fundamental questions of constitutional law and the rights of individuals, opportunities for self-protection, the control of violence, and national security.

Weapons have been a source of political and legal debate for centuries. Today ownership of weapons -- whether handguns or military-grade assault weapons -- poses more acute legal problems than ever before. In this volume, the editors' introduction traces the history of gun control in the United States, arguing that until the 1980s courts upheld reasonable gun control measures. The contributors confront urgent questions, among them the usefulness of history as a guide in ongoing struggles over gun regulation, the changing meaning of the Second Amendment, the perspective of law enforcement on guns and gun control law, and individual and relational perspectives on gun rights.

The Historical Dictionary of the U.S. Constitution covers the Founding of the American Republic and the Framers, the drafting of the Constitution, constitutional debates over ratification, and traces key events, Supreme Court chief justices, amendments, and Supreme Court cases regarding the interpretation of the Constitution from 1789-2016.

In How to Read the Constitution and Why, legal expert and educator Kimberly Wehle spells out in clear, simple, and common sense terms what is in the Constitution, and most importantly, what it means. This invaluable--and timely--resource covers nearly every significant aspect of the Constitution, from the powers of the President and how the three branches of government are designed to hold each other accountable, to what it means to have individual rights--including free speech, the right to bear arms, the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, and the right to an abortion.

In this fifth edition of his bestselling classic, Jay Feinman provides an authoritative and up-to-date overview of the American legal system. The book covers all the main subjects taught in the first year of law school, and discusses every facet of the American legal tradition, including constitutional law, the litigation process, and criminal, property, and contracts law.

From the Revolutionary War to the national crisis brought about by mass shootings in the 21st century, Guns in America provides a historical look at the controversial debate over gun rights and gun control.

The Second Amendment is by far the most controversial amendment to the US Constitution. This book situates discussion about gun controls within contemporary debates about citizenship, culture, philosophy and foreign policy as well as in the more familiar terrain of politics and history. The collection presents a balanced view between those who favor more gun controls and those who would prefer fewer of them. It is infused with the belief that through honest and open debate the often bitter cultural divide on the Second Amendment can be overcome and real progress made.

On the final day of its 2008 term, a sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-to-4 decision striking down the District of Columbia's stringent gun control laws as a violation of the Second Amendment. Reversing almost seventy years of settled precedent, the high court reinterpreted the meaning of the "right of the people to keep and bear arms" to affirm an individual right to own a gun in the home for purposes of self-defense. The landmark ruling not only opened a new chapter in the contentious history of gun rights and gun control but also revealed both the strengths and problems of originalist constitutional theory and jurisprudence. This volume brings together some of the best scholarship on the Heller case, with essays by legal scholars and historians representing a range of ideological viewpoints and applying different interpretive frameworks.