Editor Sylvia Engdahl has compiled several essays and primary sources that will help readers examine how the courts have helped to shape the welfare system. Cases are presented, such as King v. Smith, 1968, which was about denying welfare payments based on a mother’s morality. Then, majority and dissenting essays review the case cleanly for the reader, along with other essays reflecting on each major case that is profiled. Essay sources include Thurgood Marshall, William Rehnquist, Anne M. Valk, and Martha F. Davis.