For over 30 years Professor Rose has been researching,writing and interpreting the Supreme Court cases that have played a unique role in changing American law, politics and history. Each of the twenty-five cases selected for review is preceded by a treatment of the historical, political and economic context during which the case is decided. The “shaping”elements of each decision is discussed in situ with its time and place. The author has drawn on his own research as well as that of many scholars for the purpose of contextual settings. An edited version of the Supreme Court majority opinion is presented in each section. In a number of sections edited versions of dissenting and concurring opinions are also presented and often these dissenting opinions prove to be the underpinnings for future reconsiderations of the issues at hand. The cases begin with the Marshall Court (Marbury vs. Madison) and conclude with the Rehnquist Court (Bush vs.Gore).

The cases include Marbury v.Madison, Trustees of Dartmouth v. Woodward,McCulloch v. Maryland, Gibbons v. Ogden, Barron v. Baltimore, Dred Scott v. Sandford, Ex Parte Milligan, United States v. E.C.Knight Co., Plessy v. Ferguson, Lochner v. New York, Schenk v. United States, Bush v. Gore.