lawren83's review
5.0
This has left me feeling outraged and also like I should never leave my house ever again. Americans take the Constitution for granted. This book explains just how quickly it can be undermined and limited.
kstep1805's review
4.0
A really important book on the undermining of Constitutional rights for criminal defendants almost since the beginning of our republic. We often think our justice system is one where we’d rather let ten guilty men go free than imprison one innocent person but due to a series of Supreme Court decisions over two centuries and police cultures that allow constitutional violations, we have a justice system that would rather imprison ten innocent men than let one guilty man go free. He runs through how often police and prosecutors can violate the 4th Amendment and there is almost no remedy allowed by the Court.
socraticgadfly's review
4.0
Not bad, but Chemerinsky does pull punches. Not as badly as he did in The Case Against the Supreme Court, as I noted in my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1621832595, but he still pulls punches.
The biggie? On qualified immunity. On both Harlow, and the Pierson case a few years earlier that provided a run-up framework on qualified immunity, both Thurgood Marshall and William Brennan voted FOR qualified immunity. Bill Douglas was the only nay on Pierson and Warren Burger, interestingly, was the only nay on Harlow. I've got the goods on my blog. https://socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-duopoly-lesser-evilism-and-supreme.html
Chemerinsky doesn't tell you that. He doesn't discuss Harlow's ruling in detail and doesn't discuss Pierson at all. As dean at Berkeley Law, he knows these things, and the book isn't that long, so omitting them is willful.
A lesser case of punch-pulling? He criticizes Breyer and Ginsburg at times, but Kagan has also been a squish on the Fourth and Sixth and he doesn't mention that.
The biggie? On qualified immunity. On both Harlow, and the Pierson case a few years earlier that provided a run-up framework on qualified immunity, both Thurgood Marshall and William Brennan voted FOR qualified immunity. Bill Douglas was the only nay on Pierson and Warren Burger, interestingly, was the only nay on Harlow. I've got the goods on my blog. https://socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-duopoly-lesser-evilism-and-supreme.html
Chemerinsky doesn't tell you that. He doesn't discuss Harlow's ruling in detail and doesn't discuss Pierson at all. As dean at Berkeley Law, he knows these things, and the book isn't that long, so omitting them is willful.
A lesser case of punch-pulling? He criticizes Breyer and Ginsburg at times, but Kagan has also been a squish on the Fourth and Sixth and he doesn't mention that.
wingosmith's review
5.0
This book is an excellent overview of how constitutional law shapes policing in America. I highly recommend folks read it.
Living in Georgia, I don't share the author's optimism on state law reforms to policing. Even in the blue islands, many local reforms are prevented by state law. Florida's law last year that penalized cities that reduced police budgets Is one example.
And the trend isn't limited to police. Republican-held legislatures block local initiatives on rent stability, living wages, and other vital issues.
Living in Georgia, I don't share the author's optimism on state law reforms to policing. Even in the blue islands, many local reforms are prevented by state law. Florida's law last year that penalized cities that reduced police budgets Is one example.
And the trend isn't limited to police. Republican-held legislatures block local initiatives on rent stability, living wages, and other vital issues.
bethechange_07's review
emotional
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
5.0
Presumed Guilty should be a must read for everyone. It details how the Supreme Court has eroded the rights that many thing are given to us by the Constitution. It also goes into how the interpretation of the Constitution has changed since its inception. Many of the provisions of the Constitution were once thought by the Justices to only apply to federal matters. It also talks about how policing as we know it today has evolved from fugitive slave laws and their enforcement. The journey of our jurisprudence has been interesting.
After reading this book I feel much better informed about the Supreme Court, their decisions, and policing in the United States. I highly recommend this book to everyone and it should be at the top of your list of best books of they year when you read it. The information is easy to understand and presented in an organized fashion. There are many events and examples that make the content relatable.
Thank you to NetGalley and WW Norton for the ARC of this book. #PresumedGuilty #NetGalley
After reading this book I feel much better informed about the Supreme Court, their decisions, and policing in the United States. I highly recommend this book to everyone and it should be at the top of your list of best books of they year when you read it. The information is easy to understand and presented in an organized fashion. There are many events and examples that make the content relatable.
Thank you to NetGalley and WW Norton for the ARC of this book. #PresumedGuilty #NetGalley