And the Walls Came Tumbling Down

Greatest Closing Arguments Protecting Civil Libertie

Michael S Lief, H. Mitchell Caldwell

• Publisher: Scribner
• Year: 2006
• ISBN:
  9781416548638
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Law Theory & Practice
• Index: Law

The second volume in a must-have trilogy of the best closing arguments in American legal history Every day, Americans enjoy the freedom to decide what we do with our property, our bodies, our speech, and our votes. However, the rights to these freedoms have not always been guaranteed. Our civil rights have been assured by cases that have produced monumental shifts in America's cultural, political, and legal landscapes. And the Walls Came Tumbling Down showcases eight of the most exciting closing arguments in civil law -- from the Amistad case, in which John Quincy Adams brought the injustice of slavery to the center stage of American politics, to the Susan B. Anthony decision, which paved the way to success for women's suffrage, to the Larry Flynt trial, in which the porn king became an unlikely champion for freedom of speech. By providing historical and biographical details, as well as the closing arguments themselves, Lief and Caldwell give readers the background necessary to fully understand these important cases, bringing them vividly to life.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Colophon
• Also by Michael S Lief and H. Mitchell Caldwell
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. To Be or Not to BeKaren Ann Quinlan and the Right to Die
• Chapter 2. TheAmistad OdysseyAmerican Courts Decide If a Free Man Can Be Forced into Slavery
• Chapter 3. Enemy WithinRadio Star John Henry Faulk Challenges the McCarthy-Era Blacklist
• Chapter 4. A Woman’s Rightful PlaceSusan B. Anthony Casts a Vote and Battles for the Ballot
• Chapter 5. The Truth Shall Set You FreeThe English Crown and Colonial Government Try Muzzling Newspaper Publisher John Peter Zenger and the Fledgling American Press
• Chapter 6. The Porn King and the PreacherLarry Flynt Takes on the Moral Majority and Becomes an Unlikely Champion for Free Speech
• Chapter 7. What Price Too High?One Woman’s Fight for Survival against Cancer—and Her HMO
• Chapter 8. Cleansing the Gene PoolCarrie Buck’s Forced Sterilization and the Limits on Reproductive Freedom
• Index