Federal Courts in Context aims to make the notoriously challenging Federal Courts course accessible and engaging by providing clear explanations and contextualizing cases and doctrines within their historical and social frameworks. Designed to foster "deep learning," this casebook frames federal jurisdiction and structural constitutional law through concise, accessible commentary, revealing the real-world stakes of debates about federal judicial power. It equips students with both doctrinal precision and a broader understanding of how structural constitutional law impacts diverse communities and contemporary litigation.

Key Features and Benefits:

• Alignment with Popular Secondary Sources: Organized to complement Erwin Chemerinsky’s Federal Jurisdiction, streamlining content and maximizing learning outcomes.
• Focus on Canonical Cases: Prioritizes foundational cases and their context over dense, treatise-like material, promoting accessibility and student engagement.
• Contextual Historical Insights:
  • Explores the Civil War, Reconstruction Amendments, and their retreat to frame federalism and separation of powers.
  • Examines the impact of Indian Removal, land allotment, and American imperial expansion on doctrines of sovereignty, plenary power, and non-Article III courts.
• Interdisciplinary Integration: Provides rich contextualization of key movements such as labor rights, the New Deal, and reproductive rights, connecting them to doctrines like reverse-Erie, administrative state adjudication, and standing.
• Practical and Inclusive Approach: Combines doctrinal and theoretical clarity with a focus on the lived consequences of constitutional structures, prioritizing real-world applications over abstract theorizing or unanswered Socratic questioning.

This casebook is ideal for instructors seeking to enrich classroom discussions with historical, interdisciplinary, and realist perspectives, and for students looking for an approachable yet rigorous introduction to Federal Courts.