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I'm thinking of studying law; I'm only a complete neophyte and tyro. Which books about the most essential and relevant US Supreme Court decisions would you recommend for me to self-read?

I don't want to start reading cases by myself yet; I'm only an amateur so I'll probably become confused and lost after a few sentences.

I'm NOT just looking for summaries, so I'm only interested in books written by authors with a law background. I want to learn about analyses and opinions of the judges' decisions, rationale, and ratio decidendi.

For example, I want to know why Plessy v Ferguson and Korematsu were judicially wrongly decided? Were the problems with the judges who were in the majority? Did racism eliminate their objectivity? Or were they unaffected by racism but by something else?

People's History of the Supreme Court. For more modern stuff, think last 20-30 years, The Nine.

I liked Chemerinsky. It's the supplement all law students use. Well-written with clear explanations of the cases and how they fit together.

skerz0 wrote:ratio decidendi

Chemerinsky

Are you still in college? An undergrad con law class (history or poli sci/govt) is good for this.

Find something in your local library on the supreme court. Use amazon reviews to determine the book's quality. It'll save you from wasting money.

Wikipedia really isn't a bad place to start either. Most legal decision wikipedia pages are fairly decent (I've pulled up wiki during class to answer questions for cases I didn't read for.)

And finally, don't worry about becoming confused about a judicial opinion after a few sentences. Given that most judges (particularly early on) couldn't write worth a damn, that's pretty standard procedure.

Packing the court by burns. Evaluates political history of court from beginning to modern times. Outstanding book

Constitutional Law stories is good for someone who hasn't had any law school classes. Gives you the historical background of the case, and if I remember right, just enough legal analysis to help you understand the case without leaving you confused. Read it for a class in undergrad and liked it. The author is a prominent Con Law Prof at Cornell.

http://www.amazon.com/Constitutional-La ... 1587785056

plessy was judicially wrongly decided?

jokes aside, don't read Chemerinsky. That's way too detailed for what you want.

I'd go with a non-legal SCOTUS history type thing as suggested above.

mr_toad wrote:People's History of the Supreme Court. For more modern stuff, think last 20-30 years, The Nine.

Seconded. Both of these are great books, "People's History" in particular.

For more recent Constitutional law, I might also recommend Lawrence Tribe and Joshua Matz's "Uncertain Justice: The Roberts Court and the Constitution." Just picked it up, so can't comment on how good it is, but it's been getting great reviews and appears to cover a lot of territory.