Offering a comprehensive and accessible guide to the most important judicial body in America, The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States is an indispensable resource for understanding the workings of American law. This new edition is the first substantial revision to the best-selling work first published back in 1992. The Court has continued to write constitutional history over the eleven years since publication of the first edition. Two new justices have joined the high court, more than 800 cases have been decided and a good deal of new scholarship has appeared on many of the topics central to the volume. In many cases, moreover, even though most of the new decisions themselves would not warrant a separate entry, the holdings associated with them have further defined crucial areas of constitutional law, such as abortion, freedom of religion, school desegregation, freedom of speech, voting rights, and the rights of the accused. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist presided over the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton, and the Court as a whole played a decisive and controversial role in the outcome of the 2000 presidential election. Under Rehnquistss leadership, a bare majority of the justices have rewritten significant areas of the law dealing with federalism, sovereign immunity, and the commerce power.
In total, nearly 100 new articles have been added to the companion, bringing the total to over 1200, ensuring the Oxford Companion remains the most authoritative and comprehensive guide available, and an ideal companion to Kermit Hall's The Oxford Companion to American Law.