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Students, ask your professor about using this video series in your Constitutional Law course!
Professors, contact your sales representative to learn how you can use this new series with your Aspen Publishers Constitutional Law casebook. Click here

Duke University
Aspen Voices of Law video documentaries chronicle high-profile constitutional law cases that rose to the Supreme Court. Each 20-minute documentary features the actual plaintiffs, lawyers, and judges involved in the dispute to provide the viewer with a personal and real account of the important facts, as well as the broader social context extending beyond the specific legal issues addressed in the case.
 
Wolters Kluwer Law & Business is pleased to offer this extraordinary video documentary series, produced by Tom Metzloff of Duke University, as a supplement to your new Aspen Constitutional Law or 1st Amendment casebook. Click here to view an introduction to the series from Professor Metzloff.
 
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The areas of law covered in the series are listed here.
Click the sample video link to view a short overview of the case.

  • Punitive Damages Punitive damages are a highly controversial area of American law. Large, high-profile awards have led to calls for tort reform, and the Supreme Court has placed important limits on punitive damages in recent years.

    Sample video: BMW v. Gore


  • Search & Seizure The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution protects individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. As many school boards try to combat illegal drug use, drug testing of students has become a lightning rod for controversy.

    Sample video: Board of Education v. Earls


  • Takings & Eminent Domain The Constitution requires that the government compensate landowners for property that it takes through regulation. How should the government balance the need for environmental regulations and economic development against the rights of property owners?

    Sample videos:
    Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council
    Kelo v. New London


  • Hate Speech & The First Amendment

    How does the First Amendment assure freedom of expression and yet appropriately guard against the use of symbols or speech that many find intolerable?
    Sample video: Virginia v. Black


  • Religion & The First Amendment
    Perhaps no other constitutional values are as cherished or as controversial as the values inherent in the First Amendment, particularly the American system's treatment of religion.

    Sample videos:
    Van Orden v. Perry
    Locke v. Davey
    Marsh v. Chambers
    Lee v. Weisman
    Lynch v. Donnelly


  • Free Speech & Legal Ethics
    Many American states elect their judges, believing that elections lead to greater accountability. However, judicial campaigns are often limited by strict ethical rules. How should states balance democratic values with the need for an independent judiciary?
    Ethics rules also limit what prosecutors and defense lawyers can say to the press. Where should the line be drawn between free speech rights and fair legal proceedings?

    Sample videos:
    Republican Party of Minnesota v. White
    Gentile v. State Bar of Nevada

  • The Commerce Clause
    The Commerce Clause of the Constitution is an important source of Congressional lawmaking power, and it has been the basis for federal regulation of areas from interstate transportation to water quality.

    Sample videos:
    Swedenburg v. Kelly
    Gonzales v. Raich (coming soon)


  • Abortion & Privacy
    Abortion has been one of America's most controversial legal and political issues since Roe v. Wade (1973). The cultural battle over abortion has been waged in the Supreme Court ever since Roe, most recently over the constitutionality of bans on so-called "partial birth" abortion.

    Sample video: Stenberg v. Carhart


  • Sexual Orientation & The Constitution

    Homosexuality has long been a controversial political issue in the United States. Recent Supreme Court and state court cases have considered the question of what rights gay people have under the federal and state constitutions.

    Sample video: Romer v. Evans


  • Affirmative Action
    For the past generation, Americans have been sharply divided over whether "affirmative action" should be used in various settings to help those who were victims of past discrimination or to promote diversity in the classroom and the workplace.

    Sample video: Grutter v. Bollinger (coming soon)


  • Intellectual Property
    One of the most important issues for American business is how to protect "intellectual" property such as trademarks and copyrights from infringement not only in the Unites States but throughout the world.

    Sample video: Moseley v. Secret Catalogue, Inc. (coming soon)


  • Antitrust Law
    Sample video: Leegin Creative Leather Products v. PSKS (coming soon)


  • Equal Protection
    Sample video: United States v. Virginia (VMI)


  • Criminal Procedure
    Sample video: District of Columbia v. Heller (coming soon)


  • Free Speech & Political Campaigns
    Sample video: Citzens United v. FEC