Introduction to the Centenial Edition
From the introduction to the work itself, and from the Library of Congress blog:
The need for a comprehensive treatise on the Constitution was apparent to Congress from
early in the 20th century. In 1911, the Senate Manual (a compilation of the Senate’s parliamentary
procedures) included the United States Constitution and amendments with citations to U.S.
Supreme Court constitutional decisions. A century later, the field of constitutional law has expanded
exponentially. As a result, this present iteration of that early publication exceeds 2300
hundred pages, and references almost 6000 cases. Consistent with its publication in the 21st
Century, this volume is available at the website of the Government Printing Office
(www.gpo.gov/constitutionannotated) and will be updated regularly as Supreme Court cases are
decided.
The “Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation” (popularly known as the Constitution Annotated or “CONAN”), contains an analysis of virtually all Supreme Court case law relevant to interpreting the Constitution. The Centennial Edition of this Senate Document is now available not only in its traditional printed book format, but also on the web. In addition, the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, the Library of Congress, and the Government Printing Office have launched a new app for smart devices that will make this treatise even more widely accessible to the public.
Sixty years ago, Professor Edward S. Corwin wrote an introduction to this treatise that
broadly explored then existent trends of constitutional adjudication. In some respects—the law
of federalism, the withdrawal of judicial supervision of economic regulation, the continued expansion
of presidential power and the consequent overshadowing of Congress—he has been con-
firmed in his evaluations. But, in other respects, entire new vistas of fundamental law of which
he was largely unaware have opened up. Brown v. Board of Education was but two Terms of
the Court away, and the revolution in race relations brought about by all three branches of the
Federal Government could have been only dimly perceived. The apportionment-districting decisions
were still blanketed in time; abortion as a constitutionally protected liberty was unheralded.
The Supreme Court’s application of many provisions of the Bill of Rights to the States
was then nascent, and few could anticipate that the expanded meaning and application of these
Amendments would prove revolutionary. Sixty years has also exposed the ebb and flow of constitutional
law, from the liberal activism of the 1960s and 1970s to a more recent posture of judicial
restraint or even conservative activism. Throughout this period of change, however, certain
movements, notably expansion of the protection of speech and press, continued apace despite
ideological shifts.
This brief survey is primarily a suggestive review of the Court’s treatment of the doctrines
of constitutional law over the last sixty years, with a closer focus on issues that have arisen
since the last volume of this treatise was published ten years ago. For instance, in previous
editions we noted the rise of federalism concerns, but only in the last two decade has the strength
of the Court’s deference toward states become apparent. Conversely, in this treatise as well as
in previous ones, we note the rise of the equal protection clause as a central concept of constitutional
jurisprudence in the period 1952–1982. Although that rise has somewhat abated in recent
years, the clause remains one of the predominant sources of constitutional constraints upon
the Federal Government and the States. Similarly, the due process clauses of the Fifth and
Fourteenth Amendments, recently slowed in their expansion, remain significant both in terms
of procedural protections for civil and criminal litigants and in terms of the application of substantive
due process to personal liberties.
The treatise can be ordered from the Government Printing Office (GPO) bookstore, and a searchable version of the document, using data from the GPO FDsys system, can be accessed from the Congress.gov website. A recently added feature will allow users to link to relevant discussion in the treatise from the Tables of Content, the Table of Cases, and the Index. The Congress.gov website will also contain a link to a “Featured Topics and Cases” page, allowing viewers to access the most relevant discussion of significant Supreme Court cases.
The newly offered CONAN apps will contain all the content of the treatise, and will offer functionality similar to the Congress.gov website. The apps are provided without charge, and can be downloaded from iTunes, the Appstore for Androids (coming soon), or from the Congress.gov website. Both the apps and website will be updated four times each year as summaries and analysis of new Supreme Court decisions are prepared.