A number of you have asked about books that might be helpful in providing some historical background to the cases and issues that we are discussing in class. Here are a few, though I could offer several more.
If you are interested in the framing of the Constitution, I recommend The Summer of 1787 by David O. Stewart. It is a relatively concise, quite accessible treatment of the constitutional convention. Two other favorites of mine that involve the founding era are What Kind of Nation by James F. Simon and Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis.
If you are interested in books about the Supreme Court, there are a handful of recent (and terrific) accounts of the Court's history (with a nice combination of law and political context). These are the ones I would specifically recommend:
* L.A. Powe, The Supreme Court and the American Elite, 1789-2008
* Jeffrey Rosen, The Most Democratic Branch: How the Courts Serve America
* Barry Friedman, The Will of the People: How Public Opinion Has Influenced the Supreme Court and Shaped the Meaning of the Constitution
* Michael Klarman, From Jim Crow to Civil Rights
I could probably mention another 20 or so, but that should be sufficient for now. All of these books are just great, especially for those wanting some surrounding context for the Court's major constitutional decisions.