Texas has created more constitutional law than any other state. In any classroom nationwide, any basic constitutional law course can be taught using nothing but Texas cases. That, however, understates the history and politics behind the cases. Beyond representing all doctrinal areas of constitutional law, Texas cases deal with the major issues of the nation. Leading legal scholar and Supreme Court historian Lucas A. Powe, Jr., charts the rich and pervasive development of Texas-inspired constitutional law. From voting rights to railroad regulations, school finance to capital punishment, poverty to civil liberties, this wide-ranging and eminently readable book provides a window into the relationship between constitutional litigation and ordinary politics at the Supreme Court, illuminating how all of the fiercest national divides over what the Constitution means took shape in Texas.
"A creative and entertaining window into American constitutional law. Texas and Texans have played a significant role in shaping American politics, but this book shows that Texas has been equally prominent in shaping the course of constitutional doctrine on the U.S. Supreme Court. Win, lose, or draw, the state has often found itself at the center of national disputes."—Keith E. Whittington, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics, Princeton University
"Lucas A. Powe has been for many years a triple-threat scholar—a keen legal analyst, a profound political thinker, and an engaging historian storyteller. Powe brilliantly puts all these talents to work in a groundbreaking venture—describing how litigation from our largest state has shaped American constitutional law from the moment Texas entered the union."—Thomas G. Krattenmaker, Former Dean and Professor of Law, William and Mary School of Law
"The great state of Texas, known for its independent and sometimes contrarian way of thinking, has produced a disproportionate share of landmark cases in American constitutional law—in areas as diverse as race, abortion, gay rights, flag burning, and school finance. In clear and lively prose, Lucas Powe, one of our leading constitutional scholars, illuminates the background context of those rulings and supplies many choice anecdotes about the Supreme Court and its Justices."
—Michael Klarman, Kirkland & Ellis Professor, Harvard Law School.
"Powe’s accessible and well-researched account demonstrates why “Texas and not California…provides breadth and depth to constitutional adjudication” that has had the deepest impact on the nation’s laws."
