SAGE

the constitutional law book more of a social science book that would interest undergrads," but which could still work at a law school. Methodologies and a Broader Perspective, not Partisanship Beyond aesthetics, Epstein and Walker considered pragmatics. "We had adopted books for our classes that focused primarily on Supreme Court decisions and how the Court applied the resulting legal precedents to subsequent disputes, but as scholars we understood that to know the law is to know only part of the story. A host of political factors, both internal and external, influence the Court's decisions and shape the development of constitutional law." "I try," says Epstein of both her class and her textbooks, "to give students a balanced set of tools and methods to analyze the cases. Some of those tools are legalistic tools like structural arguments and some of the tools are 'let's think about the politics of the time so that we can think about constitutional law in context." "We analyze the cases through sets of methodologies, rather than using an 'I think that's good' or 'I think that's bad' subjective approach. That's exactly what I don't want them to do." That approach, she adds, makes it possible to address constitutional law while not bogging down in the polarizing sentiments of the moment. "Constitutional law reflects other values, social values, and economic Constitutional law reflects other values, social values, and economic values, but not necessarily ideological or partisan values. values, but not necessarily ideological or partisan values." Additionally, Epstein knows that getting your students to see and understand government more broadly, rather than only through the prism of individual rights, is key to preventing polarizing discussions in the classroom. She offered the example of whether the federal government can create a bank, itself an intensely polarizing issue exactly two centuries ago. "This issue reflects how you think about federalism, how you think about the role of the states. Constitutional law isn't all about whether an individual right is legal or not; constitutional law is a much bigger subject, especially with regard to institutional powers, powers of Congress, powers of the president." Constitutional Law for a Changing America: Institutional Powers and Constraints, Tenth Edition Lee Epstein and Thomas G. Walker See page 11 for details. Constitutional Law 5

• Cover