Congressional Quarterly selected staff writer Kenneth Jost to author the book. A graduate of Harvard University and Georgetown University Law Center, Jost has excellent credentials to undertake the task. He has done a fine job selecting materials for inclusion and presenting text in a way that is both accurate and accessible to undergraduates.
Jost begins with an essay reviewing the ideological content of the Court’s 1995-96 rulings, arguing that the term reveals the reemergence of a centrist ideology. The centrist nature of the Court, however, is the result of offsetting liberal and conservative decisions rather than the justices handing down consistently moderate rulings. The Court was liberal on the rights of gays and women, as well as on freedom of expression, but conservative on issues of race, state power, and crime. Jost’s emphasis is on the positions of the individual justices. He argues the conventional wisdom that justices Kennedy and O’Connor are at the heart of the contemporary Court and largely determine the outcome on divisive cases. Jost discusses each justice’s views on the major issues faced by the Court during the 1995-96 term and also examines the justices’ ideological positions relative to each other. Data on dissenting behavior and interagreement among the justices are presented in tabular form.
Following his discussion of current Court personnel, Jost devotes two chapters to the individual cases decided during the 1995-96 term. The first of these chapters concentrates on the term’s most significant rulings, those on racial gerrymandering, gay rights, sex discrimination, Indian gaming, tort awards, cable regulation, commercial speech , and campaign finance. Jost devotes 3-4 pages of discussion to each major case. The chapter is sprinkled with photographs of individuals who were involved in the cases. In the second chapter the author provides brief summaries (about one-half page) of each of the 75 cases decided with signed opinions. The summaries are well done and provide a good review the Court’s output, but many cover cases of little interest to most undergraduate classes.
In the final chapter, Jost examines the most important cases awaiting decision in the 1996-97 term. He selects those cases from the forty-six disputes that were carried over from the 1995 term and another seven that were added in September of 1996. Jost highlights challenges to the Brady bill, abortion protest rights, and racial districting, but about two dozen cases receive some discussion.
What remains is the book’s appendix, which actually consumes almost
sixty percent of the volume. The first section, covering about 150 pages,
is devoted to excerpts of the eleven cases from the 1995 term that the
author considers to be the most important.
The selection of a term’s most significant cases is always subject
to debate, but Jost’s identification of important rulings is consistent
with similar lists compiled by other scholars. The excerpting is generally
well done, and contains good samplings of concurring and dissenting opinions.
The cases run about as long as excerpts found in standard undergraduate
textbooks, but in some instances a little longer. The second part of the
appendix provides information about "how the Court works." Although quite
short, this section reviews the basic information students need to understand
how the Court’s term is scheduled, how cases are processed, how oral arguments
and conference deliberations take place, and how opinion writing occurs.
Next comes the biographies of the current justices. Each runs about two
pages in length and is accompanied by a photograph of the justice. Basic
background information is given as well as narrative describing the justice’s
career before and after appointment to the Court. Finally, Jost includes
a glossary of legal terms and reprints the U. S. Constitution.
THE SUPREME COURT YEARBOOK is filled with useful, basic information.
It is presented in a factual. but readable manner. There is no attempt
to impose any theoretical scheme or advance any partisan position.
Although this volume might be a nice addition to some judicial process
courses or classes that focus exclusively on the Supreme Court as an institution,
its natural market is the conventional undergraduate constitutional law
class. In the constitutional law course THE SUPREME COURT YEARBOOK makes
sense only when used along with a standard textbook. Whether the YEARBOOK
is worth requiring students to purchase in addition to a basic text depends
on a number of factors. The first consideration is the range of material
found in the instructor’s preferred constitutional law textbook. Some texts
provide information on how the Court decided cases, biographical data on
the justices, and a glossary of legal terms. And, of course, all such texts
reprint a copy of the Constitution. The more the basic text covers these
subjects, the less reason to adopt Jost’s volume as a supplement. The second
consideration involves how current the basic text is. If the chosen textbook
has been revised within the past year, or its publisher provides acceptable
annual supplements, the case for adopting a volume like the YEARBOOK is
less compelling. Also relevant is whether the students have access to on-line
sources that reprint recent decisions. A final consideration involves the
nature of the projects or papers the instructor may assign. The YEARBOOK,
for example, is a nice resource for discussions or papers that require
students to predict how the Court or its individual justices might respond
to pending cases. Similarly, the YEARBOOK would be helpful to students
who are asked to write briefs or participate in mock oral arguments on
emerging issues.