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The Oxford Companion to the United States Supreme Court

Edited by Kermit L. Hall
Oxford University Press,
1,248 pp,
$65.00

Reviewed by JOHN R. WALKER

The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States has been released as an updated and revised second edition in 2005. This single-volume compendium is literally an “A to Z” of Supreme Court decisions, history, personalities, and trivia. From Abington v. Schemp to Zurcher v. Stanford Daily, this reference volume contains both breadth and analytical depth of all major Supreme Court decisions. In short, it provides an indispensable single source for constitutional research.
The 1,200 pages of the Oxford Companion are elegantly and powerfully cross-referenced through topical and case indices, endnotes, bibliographies, and appendices. This system of multiple cross-references effectively weaves the decisions, personalities, and history of the Supreme Court into a cohesive fabric, without cluttering the narrative.
For example, browsing through the topical index, the reader is directed to no less than 18 references to Chief Justice Melville Weston Fuller. Randomly selecting one, the reader finds Chief Justice Fuller’s majority opinion in Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan & Trust Co., summarized in detail. Pollock held federal income taxes unconstitutional on grounds they represented “direct taxes” not apportioned by population of the states. The summary of the Pollock decision itself contains 14 cross references to other articles in the volume, including a comprehensive article on the Sixteenth Amendment and authority of the federal government to levy taxes. Incidentally, Justice Fuller, “appointed by President Grover Cleveland in 1888 … was described by a newspaper at the time as ‘the most obscure man ever appointed Chief Justice.’” Thus, even for an obscure justice, the Oxford Companion provides a wealth of information.
A reader is likely to be infatuated with the volume by purely primal instincts; its dimensions, heft, and creamy double-column pages; it looks and feels like books used to. Soon, however, one will gain an emotional attachment and grow to love its wit, insight, and depth. It is the kind of book that will invariably “migrate” to your partner’s bookshelf. So, a law office should not buy a copy for its library. Buy two.

John R. Walker is a shareholder with Hays McConn Rice & Pickering and practices a wide range of civil litigation.

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