There are many good books on civil liberties. This one attempts to be good as well as free to students.
Most civil liberties textbooks–including this one–rely on the case method. That is, the book is mostly edited and excerpted legal case opinions (normally published by the United States Supreme Court), surrounded by commentary and questions that help the reader better understand the primary sources they’re grappling with.
Note that this book and its contents are specifically tailored to what I teach my students at California State University Fullerton in our civil liberties course. Large areas of constitutional law–such as criminal procedure or equal protection–are omitted, as these areas of law merit their own separate courses.
This textbook is split into six parts or sections, with those sections containing separately numbered chapters. The book is designed to be read online, with a table of contents appearing as a drop-down menu on the left sidebar. Some chapters have been split into separate web pages because of length; to continue reading a chapter that is split into more than one page, click on the “next page” link at the bottom.
In my own commentary and introductions, blue text is used for emphasis, particularly for important concepts, case names, or parts of the Constitution. I use this emphasis the first time a concept, case name, or Constitutional text is mentioned on a webpage or chapter.
In the opinions themselves, blue text is used to emphasize case names, parts of the Constitution, statutes, and quotes from other opinions. Case names, sections of the Constitution, and statutes are only so highlighted the first time they appear in an opinion. The exception here is block quotes, which I believe stand out well enough with highlighting. I do so to help students see how opinions are built on one another in a process that stretches across time.
Case citations have been removed from the opinion text to improve readability. I’ve retained citations to case names for cases students have read or otherwise encountered in the textbook.
Opinions have been heavily edited for clarity and length. The edited excerpts remain dense; I strongly encourage students to take notes as they read.
