Joseph L. Smith

This book is a compendium of 59 3-page essays.

My guess is that the editors set a size limit for the individual authors—thereby forcing them to squeeze a great deal of information (history, analysis, and prognostication) into a form that will allow for a 5 minute reading of each. For me, I found that I needed several re-readings before I could absorb and understand what was said…and what was not said.

The majority of the discussions end with a statement of the form: “When the justices do address the core conflict between [A] and [B], they must decide what the [C] Amendment’s guarantee of [D] requires and what results will ensue when states abrogate one liberty in favor of another.”

Several contributors have noted that “New issues will arise as technology improves and questions…emerge”.

There are many questions concerning politics and the 3 cores of our government that are answered—and for that alone this book is well worth reading. But the unasked, and unanswered questions point out that, whatever changes we do, or don’t, make to the Constitution, we have now reached the phase in this nation’s political journey when partisanship rules and if “we” can’t learn to ‘play together’ and negotiate our laws in good faith we will be in for a rough ride.

“These are the times that try men’s souls.” But what gives me hope is that, since the large majority of the Senators and Representatives of both houses of Congress are over 60, if not 70, years of age we should expect (or hope for) a change after the ‘die off’ and we let some of our ‘children’ join the game.

Like the Forefathers, we must cultivate a faith in the majority of this country electing new members of Congress that truly want to work for the greater good, instead of their own aggrandizement.

I rated this book 4.5 points because of the arbitrary 3 page restriction that forced most, if not all, of the contributors to condense their knowledge, and opinions, into statements of carefully constructed ambiguity. But, in these globally precarious times, this might be the least of our worries.… (más)

No, you won't understand the U.S. constitution in 5 minutes, or even read it in 5 minutes. No, but in the 59 articles, each of which can be read in 5 minutes, you can learn how legal minds read and draw conclusions about the framers' intentions and modern interpretations of the intentions in light of social and technical changes over the years. You may not agree with the author of some or all of the contributors to the book, but given a better understanding of how these arguments are made will give you a model on which to base your arguments. I shared this with my nephew who decided this would be a good addition to his library. You can always learn something along the way, just keep an open mind.… (más)

This is a great book to learn about what the Constitution means and how the Supreme Court (primarily) has interpreted it over the years. I think what I found most impressive was its unbiased perspective. The book covers many historically controversial topics (such as gay marriage, the 2nd amendment, affirmative action, etc.) but does so in a surprisingly—and refreshingly—even-handed manner.

There are nearly 60 essays broken down into several main sections including Origins, Representative Democracy, Individual Liberties, Equality and Civil Rights, and more. Each essay offers a very brief bio of its author, and references within and without the book.… (más)