The book arrived in great condition. The material covered is great. I am very pleased.

If you are looking for some education on cases and how the court works, this is great.

Peter Irons as a professorial reviewer brings much to the table, but it should be known that these recordings (and many, many more) are available at no charge either from the National Archives (should you happen to be in College Park, Maryland, and have the time and inclination to listen to or to copy them from a collection of mostly reel-to-reel tapes), or, more accessibly, from the web site [...].

When it comes to the major cases in the Warren era, the listening can be somewhat sluggish, as the Court through the Warren years did not feature a particularly hot bench (the arguments were often momentous, but not usually lively), and tended toward multi-hour arguments in major cases. In the late- and post-Warren years, however, as both the justices and the advocates become more vocally passionate, the listening is more often stirring both for the professionally trained legal mind and for the lay listener.

This book and its corresponding tapes are great to read and listen to the actual dialogue of the Supreme Court. I used the Tinker (student expression) and the Abington (Bible reading) cases in my School Law class. These cases enable students to listen to a primary source.

Great buy. Excellent recording quality. Makes an excellent gift for any attorney or anyone else interested in learning about the workings of the US Supreme Court and its inner workings. Highly recommend.

I teach a course at a local community college and use this book as my text. The book is relatively cheap, especially for college books, and very well written. It describes some of our most influential Supreme Court cases in the past half century. The style that it is written in is ideal for learning and keeping the reader interested.

First it gives a short one page synopsis of the case that sets out the basis facts. It then quotes the actual Supreme Court oral argument but edits the transcript to give it a more narrative style. The editting is great for explaining the background legal principle while setting out the facts to make the read more enjoyable. After the editted transcript of the oral argument, a short editted version of the Court's opinion is printed. This opinion is nicely editted so as to keep readers interested, unlike the full text of most of the cases that would scare lawyers away.

In summation, the book is organized very well and suitable for those wanting to learn about history, those wanting to learn legal principles, or even those just wanting a fun read.

These recordings are a great resources for anyone intersted in the US supreme court. This is probably doubly true as the nomination and approval process is upon us again. The records reveal much that is lost in a purely written transcript, which is the source of one of my misgivings of the packaging -- the companion book is nothing more than a literal transcription of the tapes. The book could have provided more background, or in-depth analysis, or a copy of the constitution, or the full text of the opinions. Sadly, it provides none of these.

It is remarkable how the personal experiences of the various justices seem to color their opinions. Most interesting is when future Supremes appear before the court as attorneys.

Finally, I find it interesting that the quality of the arguments seems to be independent of the decisions of the courts -- some of the weakest orators yielded winning arguments.

Still, despite these misgivings, this provides a wonderful ear to the wall of the highest court in the land. Perhaps the best thing about these arguments is that they are completely accessible to the layman -- there is little legalisms, just big issues understandable by all, even if they are controversial.

I fully enjoyed this series and own each set. The first series has additional charm because of the nice packaging, which decreased in charm as later sets came out. The plastic display holder and hard cover companion book, including a transcript of each tape, is a nice touch.

The sets does have a liberal slant, though not excessive, which reflects the author. [Justice Marshall gets some play a lot, but then again, his questions often tend to be entertaining.] This doesn't hurt too much, since the commentary is relatively brief, and centers largely on the facts of the case. And, the cases are generally landmark, not leaning one way or the other per se. Anyway, the first tape's "introduction to the Supreme Court" is well done.

I don't find it too troubling that the book doesn't have the whole opinion. The book uses a typical "casebook" approach and prints important excerpts. The book would be much larger if the full opinions were printed. Nor do the excerpt style hurt too much, again it would take much more space to do so. For those interested, Jerry Goldman has a CD-ROM with complete orals of some cases. Also, Oyez.com provides many.

I must, however, note that Irons et. al. provided some sloppy editing, which he admitted to some degree later on. He has the "Reagan Administration" involved in a case before Reagan came to office. He has "Justice Marshall" asking a question in a case before he came to the Court. And, some substantive facts and explanations contain some errors. I'm not sure how some of these things were missed in editing.

Nonetheless, overall, it is a very educational series. It further suggests why we should be able to hear these things on C-SPAN.

This is probably the best item I have purchased all year long, and definitely the most intellectually stimulating. I was expecting a product that would be informative and interesting, but my expectations where surpassed by leaps and bounds.

I am currently working on a case as a Pro Se litigant that I feel may very well wind up before the high court before all is said and done, and so I purchased this item to gain insight on how the justices decide cases, the methods used to argue, how the points are made and

I was surprised at the quality of the recordings. I typically dislike narrated tapes because many narrators are overbearing and feel the need to explain every little event, usually resulting in my mumbling of various expletives at the tape player like "Shut up and let me decide for myself" and "I want to hear the justices, not you describing the paintings on the wall". May It Please the Court was different however, the narrator spoke no more than necessary and was unusually informative when he did speak.

Every citizen who wants to learn how our legal system works should listen to these tapes. I have little doubt that these tapes would prove to be invaluable learning tools in the classrooms in both public high schools and in the collegiate setting.

Whether you are a law student, pro se litigant, seasoned attorney or just an average citizen wanting to know more about how the system works, May It Please the Court is well worth the price and your time.