The steps to the Supreme Court : a guided tour of the American legal system
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Bibliographic Information
The steps to the Supreme Court : a guided tour of the American legal system
John Wiley & Sons, c2012
- : paper
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Note
Bibliography: p. 325-328
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
A guide to the American legal system, told through the story of two actual court cases The Steps to the Supreme Court takes a lively, narrative approach to the subject by following two real cases--one civil, one criminal--as they work their way through the system all the way up to the Supreme Court. Written by a member of the Supreme Court bar, this book brings the legal system to life in a practical, accessible, and compelling way. Covers the key legal terms, principles, and processes you need to have a basic grasp of the American legal system Tracks the criminal case involving the murder trial of Paul House and follows the defendant from the night of the murder through his conviction, appeals, and final chance for exoneration at the hands of the Supreme Court Follows a civil case concerning the Ten Commandments being displayed on public property, following the parties from the time the plaintiffs filed their complaints through the Supreme Court decisions and back to the aftermath in the lower courts as they wrestle with a divided complex ruling Written by the author of A People's History of the Supreme Court , and other classic works on the American justice system
Table of Contents
Preface " How Did You Get Here?" vii Introduction "The Judicial Power of the United States": How Our Courts Were Framed and How They Function 1 Part I "No Reasonable Juror": The Death-Row Ordeal of Paul House 1 The Murder of Carolyn Muncey 27 2 The Murder Trial of Paul House 43 3 Paul House's Appeals in the Tennessee State Courts 69 4 Paul House's Federal Habeas Corpus Petition and Hearing 75 5 Paul House Seeks Relief from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals 103 6 Paul House's Appeal to the United States Supreme Court 111 7 The House Case Returns to the Federal and State Courts 127 Part II "An Establishment of Religion": The Ten Commandments and Crosses in the Courts 8 A Tale of Two Cities and Two Cases 141 9 The Hearings and the Opinions in the McCreary County and Van Orden Cases 167 10 The Supreme Court Appeals in the Ten Commandments Cases 175 11 The Impact of Justice Breyer's Concurrence on Pending Ten Commandments Cases 193 12 The Infl uence of Politics in Religion Cases: The Mt. Soledad Cross Case 213 13 Religious Politics, Judicial Snarls, and the Mojave Desert Cross Case 241 Conclusion 253 Appendix of Supreme Court Opinions 257 I. Opinions in House v. Bell 257 II. Opinions in McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky 280 III. Opinions in Van Orden v. Perry 305 Sources and Suggestions for Further Reading 325 Index 329
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