May It Please the Court: Judicial Processes and Politics in America

This dynamic new judicial process text is a practical, comprehensive, and engaging introduction to our judicial system.  May It Please the Court is unique in two important ways: 1) it offers students an insider's view of the courts not found in other texts, and 2) it gives equal attention to the effects of both political and legal influences, respectively, on judicial decisions. Other texts stress the impact of political influences on the judicial process, but understate the impact of legal influences: this text shows that the judicial process operates at the intersection of law and politics, and that it is necessary to understand both law and politics in order to know how courts work. The author, Brian Porto, is a practicing lawyer as well as a political scientist and brings his years of real-world experience to bear on his text. As a result, May It Please the Court offers a realistic view of the courts, including their day-to-day procedures, and it conveys the human drama of criminal and civil litigation, which is often missing in other texts. Actual court cases at the end of each chapter give students an opportunity to think critically, and provide a springboard for class discussion.