Read the cases. Know the law. Stop relying on strangers on the internet for your civics. A five-case starter reading plan, delivered by email, drawn from the LongHouse Civic Library.
8,200+ words of Brady-written primers + landmark case briefs. Primary sources only. No law-school fluff.
Email you the five essential cases with short descriptions and direct links. One email. No drip. No funnel. Just the list.
Read in order. Re-read the briefs before re-reading the primers — the cases apply the ideas.
The document every later American rights-guarantee traces back to. Why due-process language isn't decorative.
How the Supreme Court got the power to invalidate acts of Congress — and why Chief Justice Marshall had to refuse a remedy to establish the doctrine.
The case that made federalism actually federal. Marshall's 'let the end be legitimate' rule anchors every modern reading of implied powers.
Unanimous reversal of 'separate but equal.' The decision that made equal protection the American civil-rights battleground.
The Arizona case every American knows by name but few know the holding of. An operator's study in how prophylactic rules become load-bearing infrastructure.
The existing options for learning American civic foundations are either too thin or too deep. Ten-minute YouTube primers elide the hard parts. Law school casebooks assume you're going to spend three years and sixty thousand dollars on the subject. There's a gap in the middle for operators — people who run businesses, organize communities, or take civic work seriously — who want the real thing without the tuition.
This library is what I wish I had when I started taking civic work seriously. Primary sources only. Short enough to re-read. Specific enough to argue with. Not a law journal; not a YouTube explainer; a working reference for people who need civics to actually do their work.
I'm not a lawyer. Every entry cites primary sources — Supreme Court opinions, constitutional text, National Archives permalinks — so you can go further and verify. If you find an error, tell me. — Brady
Your email stays in our own database. We don't rent it to anyone. If you're curious why that matters, Mirror Mirror is where I teach data-sovereignty practice — but we'll send you the reading plan either way.