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Rating: 
Summary: Really understand Con Law (and help your grade, too)
Review: A central problem with teaching law by the casebook method is that most students also need a clear, expert roadmap of how the cases fit together, and how a particular doctrine that emerges from a line of cases -- sometimes over a century or more -- has evolved, changed, and operates today. Outlines of the black letter law (e.g. Gilberts) aren't as useful for something doctrinal like con law. You want clear exposition in prose. You want concise descriptions of all the important cases and what they stand for. You want Chemerinsky.All con law students should be grateful that one of the nation's leading Constitutional practitioners and professors has written this book. Its size is intimidating, but that's because it covers far more territory than the typical intro con law class. It's so well-done, though, that it's something serious students and lawyers will want on their bookshelves long after the first year -- as a supplement for advanced-topics classes, and as an essential reference work. The book is well-organized in an outline format with headings and subheads, so you can easily follow the thread of complex doctrine over time, like the Commerce Clause, or across its varied applications, like Equal Protection. Chapters are thorough but well divided. The organization allows you to find exactly what you need and to zero in on a particular narrow point or case, or to read more expansively about a doctrine's development, change, and varied application. Chemerinsky's prose is neutral, straightforward, always clear. He's analytical but doesn't make arguments. You couldn't say his writing has personality, but it is quite readable.
This book is the con law supplement of choice at my school (Michigan). No one I know has regretted buying it.
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Summary: A good book to buy during the summer before law school
Review: Along with Turow's "One L" and, of course, Llewellyn's inimitable "Bramble Bush" this is a good choice for reading (or at least browsing through) during the summer before law school begins. If you don't read it immediately, you'll almost certainly be glad to have it nearby when you study con law. You may even want to keep it after you graduate.
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Summary: There is none better
Review: I am a law student and used Mr. Chemerinsky's book during my studies in Constitutional law and for some time now after my classes in this field. This is better than any text book and was recommended by EVERY professor of Constitutional law at my school. It is an awesome book on almost everything you wanted to know about Constitutional law.
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Summary: Con Law is suddenly clear to me now!
Review: My Con Law prof is using Sullivan's "Constitutional Law" (14th Ed., University Casebook Series) as our textbook, and our entire class is overwhelmed by both the concepts and the density of the reading (it takes four hours to read 25 pages!). Then I picked up this book by Chemerinksy, which recommended by our professor. It's /amazing/. We're working on the dormant commerce clause, and Chemerinsky sets out everything incredibly clearly, citing cases (rather than including the entire case itself) and setting out black letter law in an explanation of the Court's rulings. Everything is much easier to understand, and it's much easier to pick out the important issues in the textbook when I read the next assignment. I recommend reading Chemerinsky first, and the textbook second, so the rules pop out at you more readily.
Rating:
Summary: Con Law is suddenly clear to me now!
Review: My Con Law prof is using Sullivan's "Constitutional Law" (14th Ed., University Casebook Series) as our textbook, and our entire class is overwhelmed by both the concepts and the density of the reading (it takes four hours to read 25 pages!). Then I picked up this book by Chemerinksy, which recommended by our professor. It's /amazing/. We're working on the dormant commerce clause, and Chemerinsky sets out everything incredibly clearly, citing cases (rather than including the entire case itself) and setting out black letter law in an explanation of the Court's rulings. Everything is much easier to understand, and it's much easier to pick out the important issues in the textbook when I read the next assignment. I recommend reading Chemerinsky first, and the textbook second, so the rules pop out at you more readily.
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Summary: Ideal for both Law Students and the layman...
Review: The value of this book in the study of constitutional law cannot be overstated. Mr. Chemerinsky provides us with an unbiased, very capable exposition of everything from our constitutional beginnings to the civil rights movement and beyond. This book sheds a great deal of light on the complexion of the Court at various times in history, providing the reader with insight not usually found in the common law school tome. For the layman, the reading can be dense at times but is never beyond understanding. This book can be used as both a primer for Constitutional Law or a study reference for a law school class. I recommend this book highly; along with Calimari & Pirello's (sp) Contracts Hornbook (for contracts), Chemerinsky's Principles & Policies is one of the finest supplemental texts available for a law school class. Don't wait till the final to pick it up...
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Summary: great book for preparing for con law exam
Review: This is a great book in preparing for a con law exam. Read it if you've never had con law before because it is also a good primer. Concepts like preemption are commandeering are explained quite well.
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Summary: great book for preparing for con law exam
Review: This is a great book in preparing for a con law exam. Read it if you've never had con law before because it is also a good primer. Concepts like preemption are commandeering are explained quite well.
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Summary: The most valuable study aide of ALL TIME
Review: This is probably the best money I spent my first year of law school. I am still using this book for Con Law II in my second year of school, and it is still just as invaluable to me. For Constitutional Law, canned briefs like legal lines do you no good. You need someone to spell out the principles and the analysis. No one does this as well as Chemerinsky. I could probably name at least 10 other students at school who ordered this book after they saw my copy. My text book for Constitutional Law is a piece of crap, and I would not learn anything if it were not for Chemerinsky. I have a different teacher for my second semester of Con Law, and he teaches verbatim from this book. My first Con Law professor was so impressed from a comment I made in class through something I had read in Chemerinsky that she came up to me after class and thanked me for helping further the class discussion. She was so impressed that I didn't want to tell her I was a fraud! I credit my final grade for Con Law I to Chemerinsky as well.
I know the price for this study aide is a little higher than some of the others, but you will get to use it for at least two semesters. I also heard it is helpful if you take a class on the First Amendment.
Other study aides I bought were barely opened. This one was read more than my text book!
(I never bother to write reviews. That is how pleased I am with how much this book helped me.)
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