Vol. 2 No. 10 (October, 1992) pp. 143-144
CONSTITUTIONAL INTERPRETATION, 5th Ed. by Craig R. Ducat and
Harold W. Chase. St. Paul: West Publishing Company 1992. 1700 pp.
Cloth $58.25. Paper: Volume I (700 pp.) $28.25; Volume II (1050
pp.) $38.25.
Reviewed by Beth M. Henschen, Department of Political Science,
Loyola University Chicago
In this fifth edition of CONSTITUTIONAL INTERPRETATION (and the
third produced without Harold Chase), Craig Ducat continues to
offer a comprehensive treatment of the major areas of
constitutional law. Rather than take a particular thematic
approach, the authors seek to provide a set of materials that is
"both generous and compatible with many different approaches
to teaching about the Constitution" (pp. vii-viii)--and they
do just that. The number of cases that are included (in
introductory discussions if not excerpted) is nearly exhaustive,
and instructors who reflect different styles of teaching will be
comfortable with the straightforward manner in which the cases
are presented.
The first chapter (Judicial Power) has a somewhat longer
introductory section (20 pages) than most of the others, since it
includes a description of federal court jurisdiction and case
processing in addition to a review of the Supreme Court's
interpretation of the nature and extent of judicial power.
Interspersed among the case excerpts are some additional
discussions that add interest. "When Should Justices
Disqualify Themselves?" (pp. 29-31), for example, provides
information that is relevant to John Marshall's participation in
MARBURY. Sometimes, however, these features seem to be rather
abruptly "stuck in." "The Process By Which The
Supreme Court Decides Cases" (pp. 46-49) follows EX PARTE
MCCARDLE and precedes U.S. V. WOODLEY, a decision by the Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals involving the president's power to make
recess appointments to federal courts.
Finally, Chapter 1 includes some essays, one by Ducat, for
example, on methods by which justices interpret the Constitution
(pp. 82-98) and another by Lon Fuller on adjudication (pp. 120-
123). While these topics are certainly not irrelevant, the level
at which they are addressed (especially by Fuller) may be beyond
the reach of a fair number of undergraduates, and I am not
certain that they add much to the text. It is also somewhat
curious that, for the most part, the twelve remaining chapters
contain neither supplementary essays nor the additional
"feature sections" noted above.
Chapters 2, 3, and 4 deal with legislative and executive power;
Chapters 5 and 6 cover the powers of the national and state
governments in the federal system. A new chapter (7) on
substantive due process is a welcome addition. It summarizes the
Court's interpretation of the Contract Clause and includes cases
on liberty of contract and privacy rights. In this edition,
material on procedural guarantees in the administrative process
has been eliminated (wisely, I think) from Chapter 8, Due Process
of Law. Chapter 9, Obtaining Evidence, is followed by two very
thorough chapters on speech and press. Chapter 12, Freedom of
Religion and Chapter 13, Equal Protection of the Laws, round out
the text.
Surely one of the greatest strengths of CONSTITUTIONAL
INTERPRETATION is the wealth of cases it includes. Coverage of
the Court's decisions comes in four forms: 1) case excerpts that
are appropriately introduced and edited; 2) discussions of other
cases interspersed among excerpts in which a fair amount of the
Court's ruling is reprinted; 3) tables of additional cases
relevant to a particular subject matter; and 4) cases mentioned
in chapter introductions. My only disagreement with this format
is that the cases which are scattered among the excerpts come up
rather abruptly (see, for example, LYNCH V. DONNELLY, pp.
1253-1258; DAVIS V. BANDEMER, pp. 1445-1446). Setting these
decisions off by a heading would help. In a similar vein, I think
it would be useful for the reader if the chapter introductions
were split up so that a discussion of a single topic (for
example,
Page 144 follows:
warrantless searches and seizures, pp. 788-793) immediately
preceded the case excerpts in that area (pp. 818-854). A final
minor point: the minimum monetary amount in diversity cases has
been raised from $10,000 (p. 7) to $50,000.
In addition to being published in one master volume,
CONSTITUTIONAL INTERPRETATION has now been divided into two
paperback texts which facilitate its use in a three-course
sequence. POWERS OF GOVERNMENT includes Chapters 1-7; Chapters 7-
13 comprise RIGHTS OF THE INDIVIDUAL. I used earlier editions of
Ducat and Chase when I taught constitutional law in a two-course
sequence but had to search for other, more appropriately divided
texts when I came to Loyola with its three courses on
constitutional law. I will now happily reconsider using one of
the most comprehensive casebooks for political science classes on
the market.
Copyright 1992