Constitutional Law with a Twist: Less Is More

Reviewed by Jessica Peterson, Associate Professor, Southern Oregon University on 3/18/26

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

I find the text to be appropriately comprehensive for students who are being introduced to the topic of Constitutional law. Although I like the way vocabulary/key terms and phrases are handled in text, there is not a glossary or "list of key terms" which I think some students might find challenging if they need help synthesizing important terms/concepts.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Legal textbooks are very difficult to keep completely accurate/up to date because of the ever-changing nature of law. The approach that the author takes with this text accommodates that and lays great groundwork, while allowing faculty to supplement their classes with whatever new cases/controversies are relevant. Additionally, the author spent nearly 3 decades as an appellate attorney and supervisor in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice – she brings a practical lens and experience that is great to couple with a social science lens in a class for sociology or criminology/criminal justice programs.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

My comment on accuracy addresses this issue, especially its relevance to law classes/textbooks. I do think the text has longevity, is very adaptable, and will not overload students with detail that may be irrelevant from one term to the next.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is well-organized for clarity. It is divided into two key sections; powers of the government and individual rights. She edits relevant cases for clarity and organization and to focus on key points. Each chapter includes clear concise introductions so that students have working knowledge to explore constitutional topics and issues. I also really appreciate stylistic choices, as I think they effectively highlight and emphasize legal concepts that can be challenging for students. For example, the author uses different font for case examples; effective use of bolding to draw attention to key terms ( I appreciate this in a law related text where definitions are ample…but callout boxes with definitions for all of them would become distracting). Sections are of good length to engage without exhausting students; detail and nuance without overwhelm. Gives space for faculty to insert a case of interest for more in-depth dives when desired. Tone of the text is accessible; not overly legalistic.

Consistency rating: 5

Formatting, style, and language - particularly between text and excerpt cases - are consistent throughout the text. Cases are consistently edited in a way that makes them easy to follow.

Modularity rating: 5

"The division of this book into two sections with nine total chapters makes it great for teaching in a quarter system. You can spend the time over important constitutional components as laid out, or you could easily condense/reduce readings by clearly-defined sections. For example, if you are teaching the class from a social science perspective and want to spend more time on personal rights and liberties, it would be easy to condense chapters 1-4 and expand chapters 5-9 to accommodate such approach. For social science programs teaching this course, I personally would start with a very basic overview of government (3 branches and roles), the court system (dual system), and the Constitution to lay foundation for undergraduates before starting chapter 1. In my own program, we do this with a class that proceeds our class on constitutional law and justice, but something to consider with the book that might further help ease students into some of the legal terms that are introduced in chapter 1. Additionally, the author specifically excludes full discussion of the first amendment and of criminal procedure (as those topics are often discussed in their own classes). However, the first amendment is still contextualized to some degree (enumerated vs unenumerated rights) and it is unavoidably cited in example cases….for my own class (and perhaps similar social science programs/perspectives), I will add lecture/discussion of the first amendment. At my university, we do cover criminal procedure in other courses, but faculty should be aware that this book does not go into detail on that (massive) topic and may want to supplement if this is the only class in which students receive information about it. Overall, the text is very pedagogically sound….the author’s teaching experience is reflected in how she designs the book and this is stated upfront. This is so important for a topic like constitutional law and justice that can be very intimidating for a lot of students (particularly if they are not planning to go to law school)."

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Organization/structure/flow are sound, as previously discussed.

Interface rating: 5

The only areas of improvement, in my opinion, relate to the previously discussed lack of glossary/summary of key terms. Additionally, I do think more distinction between the cases could help sighted readers especially if they need to return to a premise stated in the text to make sense of the case excerpt they just read; while including them in boxes or with color backgrounds could help for sighted students, this approach may not be accessible for all readers and there are currently stylistic features to separate cases from narrative text.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No issues found.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text does a good job of simplifying challenging concepts and making them relevant to students. For example, framing the text as addressing “who gets to say?” when it comes to legal questions connects constitutional laws, questions, and controversies to tangible questions that students might have regarding their own lives/rights.

I will adopt this text next term...it will be my first time teaching a course specifically on constitutional law and justice but I have taught "law and society" courses for a while now and appreciate the approach this textbook takes.