Resources on the Constitution

Amendments to the Constitution: A Brief Legislative History. Prepared for the use of the

Subcommittee on the Constitution, Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate. October

1985. Senate Print 99-87. (Out of print.) 

Contains the text of each amendment to the Constitution along with the background that led to its

proposal and its legislative and ratification history. There are appendices that provide the

number of constitutional amendments introduced over time, a list of proposed amendments not

ratified, and congressional votes on amendments (information is current through 1984).

American Constitutional Law, 3rd ed. Laurence H. Tribe. Foundation Press. 2000. 

The preeminent treatise in its field. Concentrates on the Constitution’s provisions for separation

of powers, federalism, and other structural matters.

The Complete Bill of Rights: The Drafts, Debates, Sources, and Origins. Neil H. Cogan. 

Oxford University Press. 1997.

This book is a record of the debate over the Bill of Rights. It presents each clause of the Bill of

Rights in its finished form, and then traces it backward to its origins. Sources cited include state

convention proposals; state, colonial, and English constitutional texts; sources in case law and

treatises; and diaries, correspondence, newspapers, pamphlets, and congressional debates.

Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation, with Annotation of

Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 2002. Prepared by the

Congressional Research Service. 2002. Senate Document 108-17. The Constitution of the

United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court

of the United States to June 29, 2004 (2004 pocket-part supplement). Prepared by the

Congressional Research Service. 2004. Senate Document 108-19. Published by the U.S.

Government Printing Office. Also available online. 

Commonly known as The Constitution Annotated. Analyzes and interprets the Constitution with

annotations of Supreme Court cases. The book version is published every ten years as a Senate

document and cumulative supplements are issued every two years; both the book and

supplements are available for purchase from the Government Printing Office and are also

available on the Internet. 

The Constitution of the United States of America as Amended: Unratified Amendments,

Analytical Index. U.S. Government Printing Office. June 20, 2003. House Document 108-95. 

Also available online. 

Includes the full text of the Constitution as well as descriptions of amendments that were not

ratified by the states. Also includes a topical index to the Constitution.
Constitutional Amendments, 1789 to the Present. Kris E. Palmer. Gale. 2000. 

Contains essays on the social and political contexts in which each constitutional amendment

originated. The essays include the significant events, issues, figures, movements, and judicial or

legislative actions relating specifically to an amendment’s implementation and interpretation. 

There is a separate chapter on unratified amendments.

Constitutional Law: Principles and Policies, 2nd ed. Erwin Chemerinsky. Aspen Law &

Business. 2002.

A comprehensive one-volume constitutional law treatise that covers constitutional doctrines and

policies, including equal protection, due process, and First Amendment protection. Does not

cover criminal procedure or federal jurisdiction issues. Current through the October 2000 term.

The Constitutional Law Dictionary. 2 vols. Ralph C. Chandler, et al. ABC-CLIO. 1985.

Main volumes no longer in print, but supplements to update the main volumes are issued

periodically. 

Volume 1 Individual Rights 1985 

Volume 2 Governmental Powers 1987

Volume 1 summarizes landmark Supreme Court decisions and defines over 200 terms relating to

individual rights, such as free speech, capital punishment, separation of powers, Civil Rights Act

of 1964, and Brown v. Board of Education. Volume 2 is set up similarly but focuses on concepts

such as judicial, executive, and legislative power; federalism; commerce and taxing and spending

power; state economic regulation and due process; and the contract clause.

Constitutional Law for a Changing America: Rights, Liberties, and Justice, 5th ed. Lee

Epstein and Thomas G. Walker. CQ Press. 2004. 

Covers the major issues and cases of constitutional law. The authors take a big-picture approach

to examine the internal and external factors that influence a court decision. Has a case and a

subject index.

The Declaration of Independence: Origins and Impact. Edited by Scott Douglas Gerber. CQ

Press. 2002. 

Chapters include topics of political theory, political architecture, and the influence of the

Declaration on various groups of people. Has a case and a subject index. A title in the

Landmark Events in U.S. History series. 

Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, 2nd ed. 6 vols. Edited by Leonard W. Levy. 

Macmillan Reference USA. 2000.

Contains scholarly articles in the following subject areas: doctrinal concepts of constitutional

law, people, judicial decisions, public acts, and executive orders. Articles vary in depth of
treatment. Appendices include a case index and primary documents. 

Encyclopedia of Constitutional Amendments, Proposed Amendments, and Amending Issues,

1789-2002, 2nd ed. John R. Vile. ABC-CLIO. 2003.

 

Contains more than 500 encyclopedia-style entries on ratified or proposed constitutional

amendments, major constitutional reforms introduced outside of Congress, influential individuals

and organizations, and Supreme Court decisions. There are several appendices that provide the

text of the Constitution, dates amendments were proposed and ratified, number of amendments

by decade, and the most popular amending proposals by year and key events. There is an

extensive bibliography.

The Founders’ Constitution. 5 vols. Edited by Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner. The

original hardbound version was published by the University of Chicago Press in 1987; a

paperback version was published in 2000 by Liberty Fund (Indianapolis). Also available online.

A collection of the thoughts, opinions, and arguments of the Founding Fathers during the

creation and drafting of the Constitution. Volume 1 is arranged according to broad themes or

problems to which the Constitution of 1787 has made a significant and lasting contribution. The

remaining volumes are organized by article, section, and clause of the U.S. Constitution. For

each of the volumes, the theme or section from the Constitution is explained through texts from

speeches, articles, correspondence, and transcripts produced by the founders and their critics. 

Landmark Decisions of the United States Supreme Court. Paul Finkelman and Melvin I.

Uroksky. CQ Press. 2003. 

Covers over 1,000 court decisions, through 2002. Cases are arranged chronologically so the

reader can understand the historical context of the cases. Each case lists the vote and the author

of the opinions, including concurring and dissenting opinions. Appendices include confirmed

Supreme Court nominations and membership changes on the Court. Includes a case and a

subject index.

Our Constitution. Donald Ritchie and JusticeLearning.org. Oxford University Press. 2006. 

Begins with a background on how and why the U.S. Constitution was created, the rights it

protects, how it has expanded over time, and how it is interpreted. Most of the book comprises

detailed descriptions of each clause and article of the Constitution, with “what it says” and “what

it means” explanations. Contains profiles of important Supreme Court cases, historical

anecdotes, texts of related primary source documents, and a glossary and index.

A Practical Companion to the Constitution: How the Supreme Court Has Ruled on Issues

from Abortion to Zoning. Jethro K. Lieberman. University of California Press. 1999. 

Contains more than 1,000 short essays on the meaning of the Constitution as the Supreme Court

has interpreted it. The essays are arranged in alphabetical order by topic (so if you are looking
for information on abortion, you look at that topic, not the Fourteenth Amendment). The book is

extensively cross-referenced and indexed so that even a reader with only a minimal knowledge of

the Constitution or constitutional law can find relevant topic areas. 

The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787. 3 vols. Edited by Max Farrand. New Haven,

CT: Yale University Press, 1986. Also available online.

This is one of the great scholarly works of the 20th century. In his preface Max Farrand says that

the “first purpose” of this work is “to present the records of the Federal Convention in the most

trustworthy form possible. . . . The other purpose of this work [is] to gather all of the available

records into a convenient and serviceable edition.” Besides the transcripts of the official

proceedings of the convention, Farrand includes the notes taken at the time (and later revised) by

James Madison, as well as notes and letters by many other participants and the various

constitutional plans proposed during the convention.