Texas has created more constitutional law than any other state. In any classroom nationwide, any basic constitutional law course can be taught using nothing but Texas cases. That, however, understates the history and politics behind the cases. Beyond representing all doctrinal areas of constitutional law, Texas cases deal with the major issues of the nation. Leading legal scholar and Supreme Court historian Lucas A. Powe, Jr., charts the rich and pervasive development of Texas-inspired constitutional law. From voting rights to railroad regulations, school finance to capital punishment, poverty to civil liberties, this wide-ranging and eminently readable book provides a window into the relationship between constitutional litigation and ordinary politics at the Supreme Court, illuminating how all of the fiercest national divides over what the Constitution means took shape in Texas.

Acknowledgments Introduction PART I: TEXAS THE SOUTHERN STATE 1. The All-White Primary 2. After the Voting Rights Act 3. From Discrimination to Affirmative Action PART II: TEXAS THE WESTERN STATE 4. Railroads 5. Oil 6. School Finance 7. Immigration PART III: TEXAS AND CULTURAL ISSUES 8. Freedom of Speech and the Press 9. Freedom of and from Religion 10. Abortion PART IV: DISTINCTLY TEXAS 11. Prosecuting Consensual Adult Sex 12. Capital Punishment 13. Tom DeLay's Mid-Decade Redistricting Conclusion Notes List of Cases Index