First Amendment Rights: An Encyclopedia

This two-volume set by Lind and Rankin (both political science, Illinois State Univ., Normal) compiles law review and scholarly articles that provide a high-quality overview of the legal issues surrounding the protections guaranteed by the First Amendment. The first volume reprints articles from previous Greenwood Press legal reference titles that objectively identify and explain the issues, laws, cases, and court decisions that shaped First Amendment jurisprudence through 2008. The articles are largely historical in their coverage and follow the issues over time. The second volume focuses on contemporary First Amendment questions, reprinting recent articles from a variety of law review and scholarly sources. Much of the material in this volume address issues associated with rapidly changing social media technologies and practices, such as Facebook and sexting, or political and religious divides on issues such as campaign finance, Occupy Wall Street, and mandated contraceptive coverage in the Affordable Care Act. The authors place each issue into the relevant legal context and precedent and some take positions on them, generally advocating more expansive First Amendment protections. All articles are well documented, and some include term definitions. Each volume has an appendix with case briefs that describe the issues, facts, and decisions of key court cases.