May It Please the Court

Live Recordings and Transcripts of Landmark Oral Arguments Made Before the Supreme Court Since 1955

Edited by Peter Irons and Stephanie Guitton

pb/cd

$35.00

A strong and direct whiff of history.
—THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

One of the most effective teaching tools available.
—THE WASHINGTON POST

Until The New Press first published May It Please the Court in 1993, few Americans knew that every case argued before the Supreme Court since 1955 had been recorded. The original book-and-tape set was a revelation to readers and reviewers, quickly becoming a bestseller and garnering praise across the nation. William Safire, writing in the New York Times, called it “a fascinating, you-are-there experience . . . an ear to history in the making,” and the Los Angeles Times Book Review dubbed it a “treasure trove.”

Including both transcripts of the most significant cases argued before the Supreme Court and recordings of the oral arguments, May It Please the Court offers “a front-row seat in America’s most powerful courtroom, where very, very few have had the opportunity to sit” (American Bar Association Journal ). This new edition of the original volume makes the recordings available for the first time in MP3 audio CDs.

Peter H. Irons is emeritus Professor of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of numerous books on the Supreme Court and constitutional litigation, including Jim Crow’s Children: The Broken Promise of the Brown Decision and A People’s History of the Supreme Court. Stephanie Guitton is a graduate of the Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program at the University of California, Berkeley. She has a law degree from the University of Poitiers in France.

*The audio for this new edition is on MP3 compact discs. MP3 audio books on compact disc can be played on newer CD players that support MP3 technology and accept a 4.75”-diameter disc and on any personal computer that has Microsoft’s Media Player or similar software.