From a #1New York Timesbestselling author, podcast host,and legal expertcomes an accessible and modern guide on how to read and understand the U.S. Constitution.

Think of this as the U.S. Constitution explained by Americas favorite law professor, Melissa Murray. On her podcast,Strict Scrutiny, Murray and her cohosts, Kate Shaw and Leah Litman, provide in-depth, accessible, and irreverent analysis of the Supreme Court and its cases, culture, and personalities.

On that podcast, onMSNOWwhere she is a frequent contributorin opinion pieces, and when providing commentary as she did in a recentNew York Timespiece on Justice Brown Jackson, Murray spends an awful lot of time demystifying laws for everyone else. In this book, she tackles one of the founding American documents: the Constitution. Each amendment will be annotated with some historical context provided, as well as examples of how it is relevant to our present day.

More necessary than ever, as we look to the Supreme Court and their interpretation of the Constitution as the last institution upholding our democracy, this book is an indispensable read for every thinking American.

Melissa Murrayis the Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law at New York Universitys School of Law. She is the coauthor of the #1New York TimesbestsellerThe Trump Indictments: The Historic Charging Documents with Commentary, cohost of a top-ranked podcast,Strict Scrutinywhich is about the Supreme Court and the legal culture that surrounds itand a regular commentator on MSNBC. Her writing appears regularly in major national publications, includingTheNew York Times,TheWashington Post,Los Angeles Times,TheAtlantic,Mother Jones, andTheNation. She is frequently called upon by national media outlets such as NPR and PBS to offer expertyet accessiblecommentary on the Supreme Courts decisions and other pressing legal matters of national importance. Her academic publications have appeared (or are forthcoming) in theCalifornia Law Review,Columbia Law Review,Harvard Law Review,Michigan Law Review,Pennsylvania Law Review,Virginia Law Review, andYale Law Journal, among others. Murray is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where she was a Jefferson Scholar and an Echols Scholar, and Yale Law School, where she was notes development editor of the Yale Law Journal. While in law school, she earned special recognition as an NAACP-LDF/Shearman & Sterling Scholar and was a semifinalist of Morris Tyler Moot Court. Following law school, Murray clerked for Sonia Sotomayor, then of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and Stefan Underhill of the US District Court for the District of Connecticut. Prior to joining the NYU faculty, Murray was on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where she was the recipient of the Rutter Award for Teaching Distinction. From March 2016 to June 2017, she served as interim dean of Berkeley Law. Murray is a member of the New York bar. She lives in New York City with her family.

• Publisher: 37 Ink
• Publish Date: May 5, 2026
• Pages: 352
• Language: English
• Type: Hardcover
• EAN/UPC: 9781668221938
• Dimensions: 9 in H | 6 in W | 1.2 in T | 1.1 lb Wt
• BISAC Categories: Politics, Law