The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States
Oxford has published a second edition of this accessible and authoritative reference to Supreme Court cases, justices, legal issues, and terminology. With 86 new articles that include biographies of Clinton appointees Ginsberg and Breyer and commentaries onBoy Scoutsv.Dale,Bushv.Gore,McConnellv.Federal Election Commission,and other important cases, Oxford has brought the companion into the twenty-first century. The extra 200 pages make the book a little difficult to pull from a high shelf, but librarians and readers will find it worth the effort. New essays on the Age Discrimination inEmployment Act,Detainee cases, andHate speechremind us of the continuing influence of the Supreme Court in U.S. politics and in the everyday lives of its citizens. Almost 100 articles have been revised and updated, including entries on current justices,Abortion,Impeachment,Religion, and theSecond Amendment.The features that made the first edition so convenient and easy for the layperson to use remain. Each case entry includes aU.S. Reportscitation, date argued, date decided, and authors of majority, concurring, and dissenting opinions. Longer entries have brief bibliographies made up predominantly of citations to books and law review articles.Seeandsee alsoreferences are abundant but not overwhelming.There are several appendixes, including a useful chart of Supreme Court justices and their years of service, a chronology of the justices' succession, and a list of "Trivia and Traditions of the Court." The volume concludes with case-name and topical indexes.The companion will likely find its way to most of the 2,800-plus libraries that have the first edition. Its value as a quick reference source on the Supreme Court has not diminished with the passage of time. It still belongs in every library, high school and up.Jan LewisCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved