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LetMyPeopleVote

(174,948 posts)
Fri May 30, 2025, 07:50 PM May 2025

Tribe's 1978 "American Constitutional Law" is the law student "Bible"

I am dating myself but I still have a copy of this treatise. It got me through con law and the course of First Amendment law





I showed this treatise to my older two children when they were in law school and there were amused
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Tribe's 1978 "American Constitutional Law" is the law student "Bible" (Original Post) LetMyPeopleVote May 2025 OP
I have this JustAnotherGen May 2025 #1
Why were your children amused? The constitution hasn't changed so it is not as if Tribe is now outdated... hlthe2b May 2025 #2
Ha, I have the first edition! Ocelot II May 2025 #3
I also have a First Edition LetMyPeopleVote May 2025 #7
When Tribe wrote that horn book -- Tarzanrock May 2025 #4
I used Gunther's 10th edition, with a supplement for Con Law I. rsdsharp May 2025 #5
Looks like the current edition which no longer has Gunther's name on it -- Tarzanrock May 2025 #6
Chemerinsky is the new Tribe. Ms. Toad May 2025 #8

JustAnotherGen

(37,555 posts)
1. I have this
Fri May 30, 2025, 07:52 PM
May 2025

Not an Attorney - but gift from my parents Junior year of college. I think its 1993. I was really into Con Law and Civ Libs.

hlthe2b

(112,803 posts)
2. Why were your children amused? The constitution hasn't changed so it is not as if Tribe is now outdated...
Fri May 30, 2025, 07:54 PM
May 2025

Perhaps the APPROACH to teaching the material has changed, but I really don't get what you are saying-- (and I'm feeling a bit insulted on behalf of Tribe, so can you please explain?)


I grew up with more judges, prosecutors and practicing attorneys of all "stripes" among my many uncles and oldest cousins and great uncles, so I remember fondly and learned a LOT from the spirited debates and discussions that were often far more academic than you might imagine. And, Tribe was among those heralded, so perhaps I am especially protective--despite my own black sheep status having gone into medicine, rather than law...LOL )

Ocelot II

(129,047 posts)
3. Ha, I have the first edition!
Fri May 30, 2025, 08:06 PM
May 2025

Published in 1978, the year before I started law school, so it was hot off the presses.

 

Tarzanrock

(1,250 posts)
4. When Tribe wrote that horn book --
Fri May 30, 2025, 08:40 PM
May 2025

Gerald Gunther was already publishing his 9th or 10th edition of his Constitutional Law Cases And Materials law book.

rsdsharp

(11,794 posts)
5. I used Gunther's 10th edition, with a supplement for Con Law I.
Fri May 30, 2025, 09:02 PM
May 2025

I figured I could save $60-70 (yes this was a long time ago) on casebooks when I took Con Law II the next semester.

But, nooooo. Had to buy the 11th edition WITH a supplement!

Ms. Toad

(38,282 posts)
8. Chemerinsky is the new Tribe.
Fri May 30, 2025, 11:47 PM
May 2025

We may not even have had Tribe in the library. Chemerinsky is the one I gravitate to when for a thorny problem and the one that one of the best professors read three times the summer before she taught Con Law for the first time in years.

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