The Supreme Court: Landmark Decisions: 20 Cases That Changed America

by Tony Mauro

The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach.
Obergefell v. Hodges
In the United States of America, the legislative branch is responsible for creating legislation, while the executive branch is responsible for signing that legislation and enforcing it. But how do senators, representatives, and presidents make sure that these laws don t run afoul of the Constitution that guides the running of the country?
The nine justices of the Supreme Court of the United States serve as the final arbiters of which laws are and aren t constitutional. Every year, thousands of contentious cases are submitted to the court for that reason; only about eighty of them are heard. Out of those cases, many are remembered only by the people directly involved. But over the years, many cases heard by the Supreme Court have gone on to affect the lives of many or even all American citizens.
In The Supreme Court: Landmark Decisions, veteran court reporter Tony Mauro picks out the twenty most momentous Supreme Court cases in United States history. In his reviews of Marbury v. Madison, the 1803 case that first affirmed the Supreme Court s status as the country s final legal arbiter, to Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 case that legalized same-sex marriage, Mauro summarizes each case and includes cogent summaries of the justices decisions, as well as notable dissents.
With Mauro s crisp language and sharp insights, The Supreme Court: Landmark Decisions serves as your quick, concise, and informative guide to one of the most important, and sometimes least-understood, institutions in the nation.
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Genres: History, Nonfiction, Law, Politics, Reference, American History, Political Science

Hardcover

Published January 1, 2016

About the author

In 1994 at the age of 23 Tony Mauro left the city of Buffalo, NY where he grew up and spent most of his adult life bound for the west coast to pursue his career as an illustrator. He landed in Los Angeles in November of '94 and began working in the entertainment industry as an illustrator and designer.

Tony graduated from the Art Institute of Pittsburg in 1911 with a degree in visual communications and a major in airbrush. After spending six years as an airbrush illustrator he eventually crossed over to the computer. The first several years in Los Angeles were spent working with an illustration and design studio in Santa Monica. This was where Tony refined his computer skills and began developing the style that he uses today. For abouter two and a half years Tony worked almost exclusively on designing posters, calendars, book covers, and video box covers for the hit show "The X-Files".

His transition into Pin-up/Fantasy art came shortly after that when he started developing the "When Darkness Falls" Vampire Series. Using what little knowledge of photography he had from shooting his own reference as an illustrator, he started photographing friends and acquaintances for his vampire series. By the time he was wrapping up the series he was being contacted by Playmates, Penthouse Pets, and some adult film stars wanting to get involved in the project that was starting to develop quite a buzz among the model circuit in Los Angeles. Tony categorizes his art as photo-based illustration.

Tony has recently returned to his hometown of Buffalo, NY to focus more of his time on fantasy art while still freelancing for the entertainment industry designing movie posters as well as crossing over into the world of publishing and book covers.

Reviews

[Gabe]

This book is a short summary for a lay audience of important cases spanning the life of the court and country. It's a well chosen list spanning multiple decades relatively evenly, giving a good sample of the changing personality of the court and of course highlighting the most recognizable social questions before Americans over the last 200 years. It is not an in-depth exploration of any one of these twenty cases, or of the momentous questions behind each; I'd say it's more of a jumping off point for such exploration. Overall my respect for the institution of the Supreme Court grew and deepened with this book, even though my worry about the imperfections and failures of the individuals and even of the varying benches collectively was confirmed. The book helped me develop my own understanding and values around the Court, around some of the highlighted cases, and even around the underlying issues to some extent. Given its brevity, the book does a great job in all three of these aspects.

[Robert Hughes]

I enjoyed this book as it gave quick summaries and meaningful excerpts from the justices’ opinions on each of 20 of the most impactful cases. It was very interesting to see the court’s interpretative philosophy change over the years, most notably the stronghold purposivism had on the court in the 1900s. I was surprised to find myself disagreeing with many landmark decisions that are hard to envision the country without. Although I like the consequences of their judgements, their decisions were often outside the constitutional scope of the court, and they were acting as a legislative body judging on what they perceived the people to hold instead of what the text actually says.

[Autumn]

I think one of the best decisions I made was reading the majority of this book before starting college. It provides a fundamental understanding of extremely important cases that are VERY relevant in most social studies/liberal arts classes (esp. citizens united).

I also really appreciated the slightly simplified explanations of nuanced topics like the debate on whether ACA is considered a tax- Mauro did a great job at explaining this kind of stuff without omitting too many details. While I still think you could gain more from reading the case text then reading summaries, this book is a great source for those who don’t want to spend hours reading entire cases. Would 100% recommend

[Megan]

Short concise summaries for each case accompanied by quotes opinions from the judges. Really enjoyed the quoted opinions as they provided direct insight to the decisions. Sure that information could be looked up online, but it’s arranged conveniently and has context in this format. Thought the case summaries were overly simplified although there isn’t much room for detail without taking away from the “pocket guide” feel this book has.

[Mary]

#8-Interesting read. 20 cases, some well known and some not, at least not to me anyway. Learned a lot and enjoyed the different opinions of the Justices.

[Emmerson]

This is a good entry level book to the most important United States Supreme Court cases. The author has chosen the twenty most important cases and summarized them in this book. I think the author missed some extremely important ones like Griswold vs. Connecticut, Lawrence vs. Texas, Brandenburg vs. Ohio, etc. But, it’s hard to narrow down only the twenty most important. Nevertheless some that are VERY impactful have been left out.

Each case is one chapter. It’s a good introduction to each case. For each case the author has their summary of the case followed by excerpts from the opinions of the justices. I wish the author did more to comment on the opinions of the justices. They are just quoted exactly from the official opinions. It can be hard to understand judicial opinions without help.

Overall it is a good introduction to get started with learning about the Supreme Court.

[Ali]

The Supreme Court has for a while been considered the most trusted branch of US government, and in the current, shudder inducing, political situation, this is still true. I definitely enjoyed this overview of important decisions by the Court, and appreciated how well constructed the book was. It's a pretty small book and sticks to the facts and abridged versions of the justice's statements, but it whetted my appetite for more books that will go into further detail.

[Dane Arbuckle]

Good read. Pretty short. Makes for a good late night reading.

[Nikki]

This book delivers exactly what the book jacket promises--a summary of 20 of the most momentous cases in Supreme Court history, including “cogent summaries of the justices’ decisions, as well as notable dissents.” “With Mauro’s crisp language and sharp insights…[this book] serves as a quick, concise, and informative guide to one of the most important, and sometimes least-understood institutions in the nation.” It does indeed. If I have any quibble whatsoever with this book, it’s the fact that I’m curious about Mauro’s thought process behind the excerpts of majority opinions and, as applicable, of dissenting and concurring opinions. While it’s clear that opinions are not reproduced in their entirety and that it would be impractical to do so, this treatment still raises the question of why some Justices’ dissents and other portions of opinions are highlighted rather than others. As such, editorial decisions about what to include or exclude are offered without comment. While digging more deeply into Mauro’s decision-making process would undoubtedly expand the scope of this book beyond its stated intention, rendering it no longer a quick and concise guide, I hope the consequence of this concise treatment is that it inspires readers to dig deeper for themselves.

[Jevon]

I write this as a person who is highly knowledgeable of neither law nor the judicial system. This book makes these very relevant and important cases accessible. A few of my favorites dealt with:
-The Ten Commandments being posted in classrooms
-The right to counsel and why we have the Miranda warning
-Federal power

The most interesting part was the opinions of the court justices. At times, it's hard to tell if they were looking for cop-outs to influence a certain outcome, or genuinely trying to think outside of the box. Regarding freedom of religion, one justice said something along the lines of "to vote against allowing religion is inherently a vote for a religion. That religion is atheism." It was an interesting take.

Great book. 5/5

[Kevin]

I am no lawyer, but work in a field of religious liberty in which requires me to read decisions to understand outcomes and parameters that apply to the cases I work with. This little book is a great, easy to read, tome that explains well the issues of 20 major cases which did "change America." Along with excellent overviews of the cases, snippets of the Justices decisions are given at the end of the summary that are helpful in understanding the various legal analysis given the same set of facts by the variegated minds of each Justice. Short read. Informative. Enlightening into a little of how cases get decided and why.

[Gary Schantz]

I have always been fascinated by the Supreme Court (America's Royalty). I enjoyed reading about the facts of the 20 cases and the eventual outcome. However, the bloviated opinions of some the judges show why certain causes took so long to be dealt with fairly...such as discrimination.

Also the book exposes why judges should have a 25 year term limit as they purposely hold on to the job so they can make their mark on history whether it's clear or not. Specifically Rehnquist's decision while he was clearly on his final legs to personally appoint George Bush president.

[Eric]

A neat and engaging primer on critical cases. Mauro's desire/intention/assignment to keep it brief/ manageable/readable is understandable. But these cases are important enough, and the context equally so, that a bit more analysis from such a sharp commentator would have been helpful, even if the book would have clocked in at 250 pages instead of a tidy 209.

Even so, Mauro's thumbnail sketches and backgrounds, plus the citations from the opinions and dissents, are reliably valuable across the board.

[Hope Mueller]

Important series of decisions provided. A glimpse into the power the court has shaping the trajectory of the nation. Clear demarcation between decision authors, some are specific, based in legal precedent, and others seemed to espouse opinion. In light of our current political environment and the recent additions to the court, the concern of the United States stability and citizenry is at an all time high and grows with the reading of this book.

[KingSolomon]

Very well done. I really enjoyed. Concise and clear explorations of twenty landmark cases, along with well summarized opinions from the justices. I noticed what appear to be the author’s democratic views sneak in there a couple of times, but it made it that much more impressive that it was only twice, so that I realized how good a job he was doing at remaining unbiased the whole time. A couple of punctuation errors, but that doesn’t tell anything about the quality of the content.

4.5

[Luke Ramos]

This book does a great job of concisely explaining some
of the most important rulings in American jurisprudence since the Constitution was established as the law of the land. All well-informed citizens should read the cases included in this book to get a sense of the complexities of our laws that shape our national identity.

[Tayler Saunders]

I’m sure this is not a read that typically gets reviewed but we are on my Goodreads so it does.

Obviously not a fun read for everyone. I like that it presents the cases in an unbiased and educational manner and that in most cases makes it easily digested.

Learn your history friends.

[Holden]

This book focuses on a short summary of the 20 most arguably important decisions of the Supreme Court. It really shows, though not many of us realize, how important the Supreme Court is impacting history to come.

[Asa Bondeson]

Real interesting book. Basically gives an overview on some important decisions over the history of the court. Also includes the court opinion, dissenting and concurring opinions, as well as the implications the decision had on the country. Very high level overview.

[Sean Coombs]

One to keep handy for rereading periodically and referencing. Very accessible to all levels of legal background, including no experience.

[Robert Talada]

Man, this is a sad book. I hear there are more sad volumes coming.

[William Fath]

Could have used more analysis or historical contex when describing the cases rather than just a brief synopsis as well majority/dissenting opinion.

[Dekota Lancaster]

A must-read for all who want to understand how these huge cases are still affecting America today.

[Sara]

Great pocket-size review of major Supreme Court cases.

[Ted Francisco]

If I could give this 6 stars I would!

This needs to be a must read for high school and college students. Provides context for decisions that have shaped America.

[Keaton Miller]

I had to cut out pages 107 to 118

[Vasu Singhania]

Good brief on important cases.

[Samantha]

Very consumable, it's so infuriating to read (sometimes) the opinions of the Justices, but it's always good to see both sides I suppose.

[Stephen Tuck]

Would be an ideal text for a lay reader or law student who is trying to get a feel for legal reasoning.

[Michael Spinelli]

Great read gives you a pretty good summary of the case then abridged readings of the justices opinions case selection felt really good too