End of the Year Law Book Reviews: From Violent Courtroom Thrillers to Rollicking Constitutional Laugh Fests

Book Review 1:

Criminal Law: Cases and Materials, Second Edition,

By Saltzburg, Diamond, Kinports, and Morawtez

Do you love page turning courtroom thrillers? How about seamy tales of the dark, criminal underbelly of society? If so Criminal Law: Cases and Materials, Second Edition, might be just what you’re looking for.

The beauty of Saltzburg’s latest work isn’t the sensational depictions of widespread sex and violence which keep you turning the pages; although that’s certainly one aspect. No, the beauty is that that the narrator tells these tales of violence, loss, and retribution so thoughtfully, with such depth, that we never lose sight of the moral dilemmas and philosophic underpinnings of the modern criminal justice system in which the characters operate. In that sense, reading Crimianl Law, Cases and Materials, Second Edition, is a bit like reading Crime and Punishment if Dostoevsky had written it while engaging in a late night drinking session Irvine Welsh and Johnie Cochran.

And while it’s true that the sensationalist, bloody nature of the substance kept me turning the pages, formally the work was a bit more challenging. Instead of a straightforward linear narration of the plot, Saltzburg presents the reader with vignettes in a very fragmented style.

One moment we are in 1923 witnessing a highly publicized bootlegging case. The next moment we are in 1983 for a nuclear protest case. Was the brother from trial 4 the same man who had a duty to act to save his wife in trial 92? Did the lawyer who prosecuted the gang member in trial 7 in 1962, become a judge, only to deliver a verdict for the subsequent gang member in 1992? What is the connection between these two events and what sort of relevance should we give to them?

Other questions jump out at the discerning reader. For example, what kind of significance should we give to the inclusion of a 20 page index at the end of the book? Should we take it at face value as a handy organizational tool? Or is it instead a tongue-in-cheek tribute to post-modern aesthetics? And what should we make of the studiously academic, almost clinical tone of the omniscient narrator?

In this sense, the book is much more Joyce than Grisham. And just as Joyce, its scale and scope are certainly daunting. But don’t let the size of the book, weighing in at 1002 pages, scare you off. Take it from me, Saltzburg has a gift for narrative economy, and easily packs more violence and contemplation into 1002 pages than most authors of the genre could pack into 1160. I’ll admit, it’s difficult for the reader to make sense of it all. God knows I tossed Gravity’s Rainbow against the wall 20 times before it all became clear. But stick with it, and remember, even if it doesn’t make sense, at least there’s a felony-murder scene just about every five minutes to make sure you keep turning those pages.

Book Review 2:

Constitutional Law, Sixteenth Edition

By Sullivan and Gunther

If you enjoyed the 1st through 15th editions, of Constituttional Law, be sure to pick up a copy of the sixteenth and you won't be disappointed.

It all starts out typically enough. The nation is in peril. Crime, racism and prejudice are rampant and plague every cranny of our society. The political divides are deep and the disparity of wealth is running out of control. Only one thing can stop a complete and total breakdown. . .

The confused, bumbling, and hilarious members of the United States Government.

Once the goofball legislators in Washington realize there’s a problem, they try to legislate it out of existence. But can they? Not if the Federal Judiciary has its way. The stern and humorless Supreme Court is in no mood for monkey business, and is ready to strike down any cockamamie congressional initiative it can get its judicious hands on.

Slapstick abounds as the legislators continue their futile attempts at lawmaking. A bill to protect civil rights? (Boing!) Unconstitutional! A bill for the enforcement of labor and environmental regulations? (Boing, Boing!). Not in our courtroom fellas.

And just when you think things can’t get any wackier, in comes the President. . . and he’s brought the states with him. The states are saying that they can fix these things on a local level, the President refuses to enforce what Congress has authorized him to do, and Congress is stripping the Court of its jurisdiction faster than the Court can invalidate its legislation. Pretty soon the entire cast of crazy constitutional characters is standing in a room seeing who can yell “Separation of Powers Doctrine” in their most grating voice.

Will Congress find a way around the unyielding, temperamental justices? Will the states hare-brained notions of sovereign immunity be honored? Will the President get to line-item veto that ill-advised spending provision? Or maybe, will this crazy cast set aside their differences, save a nation, and learn the value of teamwork along the way? I think that originalists and functionalists alike would agree. . .

Compact Federalism has never been crazier.

Book Review 3:

Civil Procedure, sixth edition

by Stephen C. Yeazell

This book is about Civil Procedure. That is all.