The application of the Political Question Doctrine is at a crucial crossroads as the Supreme Court continues to test new "War on Terrorism" initiatives. Historically, the political question doctrine has held the courts from resolving constitutional issues that are better left to other departments of government, as a way of maintaining the system of checks and balances. However, the doctrine's many ambiguities have allowed a roughly defined juxtaposition of the branches of government during...

As constitutional scholar John Nowak noted when the book was first released, "Professor Choper's Judicial Review and the National Political Process is mandatory reading for anyone seriously attempting to study our constitutional system of government. It is an important assessment of the democratic process and the theoretical and practical role of the Supreme Court." That view is no less true today, as borne out by the countless citations to this landmark work over the decades. Now in a qua...

Although the Constitution of the U.S. states that there shall be no laws that either establish or prohibit religion, the application of the Religion Clauses throughout history has been fraught with conflict and ambiguity. In this classic book, a leading constitutional scholar (and former Dean of Berkeley Law) proposed a set of guidelines meant to provide consistent guidance for interpretation.