Böcker av David M. O'Brien

Brown v. Board of Education is widely recognized as one of the US Supreme Courts most important decisions in the twentieth century. Robert H. Jackson, an associate justice on the case, is generally considered one of the Courts most gifted writers. Though much has been written about Brown, citing the writing and remarks of the justices who participated in the 1954 decision, comparatively little has been said about Jackson or his unpublished opinion, which is sometimes even mistakenly taken as a dissenting opinion. This book visits Brown v. Board of Education from Jacksons perspective and, in doing so, offers a reinterpretation of the justice's thinking, and of the Supreme Court's decision making, in a ruling that continues to reverberate through the nations politics and public life.Weaving together judicial biography, legal history, and judicial politics, Justice Robert H. Jacksons Unpublished Opinion in Brown v. Board provides a nuanced look at constitutional interpretation, and the intersection of law and politics, from inside the mind of a justice, within the context of a Court deciding a seminal case. Through an analysis of six drafts of Jackson's unpublished concurring opinion, David M. OBrien explores the justices evolving thoughts on relevant issues at critical moments in the case. His retelling of Brown presents a new view of longstanding arguments confronted by Jackson and the other justices over original intent versus a living Constitution, the role of the Court, and social change and justice in American political life. The book includes the final draft of Jacksons unpublished opinion, as well as the Warren Court's opinions in Brown and in Bolling v. Sharpe, for comparison, along with a timeline of developments and decision making leading to the Courts landmark ruling.

The First Amendment declares that 'Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech , or of the press. . . . ' Yet, in the following 200 years, the Supreme Court has defined certain categories of expression-the obscene, the defamatory, commercial, and fighting words or disruptive expression-as constitutionally unprotected. Noted legal scholar David O'Brien provides a history of each category of unprotected speech and puts into bold relief the larger questions of what kinds of expression should (and should not) receive First Amendment protection.

The Santeria religion of Cuba - the Way of the Saints - mixes West African Yoruba culture with Catholicism. Similar to Haitian voodoo, Santeria has long practiced animal sacrifice in certain rites. Here, David O'Brien illuminates this controversy and its significance for law, government, and religion in America.