The U.S. Supreme Court and Racial Minorities offers an in-depth, chronologically arranged look at the record of the U.S. Supreme Court on racial minorities over the course of its first two centuries. It does not pose the anachronistic standard, ''Did the Supreme Court get it right?'' but rather, ''How did the Supreme Court compare to other branches of the federal government at the time?'' Have these Justices, prevented against removal from office by discontented voters (in contrast to the President and the members of Congress), done any better than the elected branches of government at protecting racial minorities in America? Goldstein examines treatment of four racial minorities (Indians, Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics) in this investigation of the life-tenured Supreme Court's comparative willingness to protect racial minorities. She finds that judicial review, while no panacea, did help America's racial minorities: when the Court was willing to help, it was particularly willing to act to check state-level oppressive policies and federal-level administrative abuses. She also documents the Supreme Court's leadership role on the civil rights of Black Americans from 1911-1989. This book will be a critical resource not only for scholars of political science and law, but for anyone interested in the history of the treatment of racial minorities by the U.S. government and the value of judicial review as a protector of minority rights.

Authors Goldstein, Baer, Daum and Fine skillfully blend doctrinal and political developments to document and explain the evolution of women's rights and the law as well as the dynamics and dissension among feminist activists. Building on three previous editions, this book combines updated material on constitutional law, sex and gender discrimination, and women's reproductive rights, with new cases and readings on family law, criminal law, and LGBT rights. Discussion has been expanded to include questions of whether or not the prohibitions on sex discrimination in Title VII and Title IX protect trans individuals. New material covers emerging policy concerns such as female genital mutilation, child marriage, and the Trump Administration's policy changes on gender issues. This edition takes a more socio-political and institutional approach than other books on women and the law. The authors consider issues such as institutional questions of constitutional interpretation, the scope of judicial power, the balance of federal-state power, the interaction between law and other social and political institutions, the capacity of law to effect societal change, and the effect of presidential and Senate politics on U.S. Supreme Court nominations and confirmations. The inclusion of state and lower federal court decisions greatly strengthens the book's focus on the law's relationship to gendered inequality. Topics also include constitutional history, shifting interpretations of employment discrimination and gender equality, changes in reproductive technology and associated policy responses, divorce and dissolution of domestic partnerships, child custody, education, same-sex marriage, pornography, and domestic violence.