The Flexible Constitution
Title | The Flexible Constitution PDF eBook |
Author | Sean Wilson |
Publisher | Rowman & Littlefield |
Pages | 237 |
Release | 2013 |
Genre | Law |
ISBN | 0739178156 |
This is a new Wittgensteinian account of the American Constitution that provides a fresh perspective on how judges can follow a legal document written in flexible language. The book shows why originalism is incompatible with the American legal system and challenges the views o...
Our Flexible Constitution
Title | Our Flexible Constitution PDF eBook |
Author | ALbert E. S. De Bessieres |
Publisher | |
Pages | 188 |
Release | 1942 |
Genre | |
ISBN |
The Failure of Popular Constitution Making in Turkey
Title | The Failure of Popular Constitution Making in Turkey PDF eBook |
Author | Felix Petersen |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 427 |
Release | 2020-01-16 |
Genre | Law |
ISBN | 1108497624 |
Offers an in-depth case study of the failure of popular constitution making in Turkey from 2011 to 2013.
Courts, Politics and Constitutional Law
Title | Courts, Politics and Constitutional Law PDF eBook |
Author | Martin Belov |
Publisher | Routledge |
Pages | 201 |
Release | 2019-10-16 |
Genre | Law |
ISBN | 1000707970 |
This book examines how the judicialization of politics, and the politicization of courts, affect representative democracy, rule of law, and separation of powers. This volume critically assesses the phenomena of judicialization of politics and politicization of the judiciary. It explores the rising impact of courts on key constitutional principles, such as democracy and separation of powers, which is paralleled by increasing criticism of this influence from both liberal and illiberal perspectives. The book also addresses the challenges to rule of law as a principle, preconditioned on independent and powerful courts, which are triggered by both democratic backsliding and the mushrooming of populist constitutionalism and illiberal constitutional regimes. Presenting a wide range of case studies, the book will be a valuable resource for students and academics in constitutional law and political science seeking to understand the increasingly complex relationships between the judiciary, executive and legislature.
The Living Constitution
Title | The Living Constitution PDF eBook |
Author | David A. Strauss |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Pages | 171 |
Release | 2010-05-19 |
Genre | Law |
ISBN | 0199703698 |
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia once remarked that the theory of an evolving, "living" Constitution effectively "rendered the Constitution useless." He wanted a "dead Constitution," he joked, arguing it must be interpreted as the framers originally understood it. In The Living Constitution, leading constitutional scholar David Strauss forcefully argues against the claims of Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Robert Bork, and other "originalists," explaining in clear, jargon-free English how the Constitution can sensibly evolve, without falling into the anything-goes flexibility caricatured by opponents. The living Constitution is not an out-of-touch liberal theory, Strauss further shows, but a mainstream tradition of American jurisprudence--a common-law approach to the Constitution, rooted in the written document but also based on precedent. Each generation has contributed precedents that guide and confine judicial rulings, yet allow us to meet the demands of today, not force us to follow the commands of the long-dead Founders. Strauss explores how judicial decisions adapted the Constitution's text (and contradicted original intent) to produce some of our most profound accomplishments: the end of racial segregation, the expansion of women's rights, and the freedom of speech. By contrast, originalism suffers from fatal flaws: the impossibility of truly divining original intent, the difficulty of adapting eighteenth-century understandings to the modern world, and the pointlessness of chaining ourselves to decisions made centuries ago. David Strauss is one of our leading authorities on Constitutional law--one with practical knowledge as well, having served as Assistant Solicitor General of the United States and argued eighteen cases before the United States Supreme Court. Now he offers a profound new understanding of how the Constitution can remain vital to life in the twenty-first century.
The Second Creation
Title | The Second Creation PDF eBook |
Author | Jonathan Gienapp |
Publisher | Harvard University Press |
Pages | 465 |
Release | 2018-10-09 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 067498952X |
A stunning revision of our founding document’s evolving history that forces us to confront anew the question that animated the founders so long ago: What is our Constitution? Americans widely believe that the United States Constitution was created when it was drafted in 1787 and ratified in 1788. But in a shrewd rereading of the Founding era, Jonathan Gienapp upends this long-held assumption, recovering the unknown story of American constitutional creation in the decade after its adoption—a story with explosive implications for current debates over constitutional originalism and interpretation. When the Constitution first appeared, it was shrouded in uncertainty. Not only was its meaning unclear, but so too was its essential nature. Was the American Constitution a written text, or something else? Was it a legal text? Was it finished or unfinished? What rules would guide its interpretation? Who would adjudicate competing readings? As political leaders put the Constitution to work, none of these questions had answers. Through vigorous debates they confronted the document’s uncertainty, and—over time—how these leaders imagined the Constitution radically changed. They had begun trying to fix, or resolve, an imperfect document, but they ended up fixing, or cementing, a very particular notion of the Constitution as a distinctively textual and historical artifact circumscribed in space and time. This means that some of the Constitution’s most definitive characteristics, ones which are often treated as innate, were only added later and were thus contingent and optional.
Our Undemocratic Constitution
Title | Our Undemocratic Constitution PDF eBook |
Author | Sanford Levinson |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Pages | 260 |
Release | 2008 |
Genre | Law |
ISBN | 0195365577 |
Levinson here argues that too many of our Constitution's provisions promote either unjust or ineffective government. Under the existing blueprint, we can neither rid ourselves of incompetent presidents nor assure continuity of government following catastrophic attacks. Worse, our Constitution is the most difficult to amend or update in the world. Levinson boldly challenges the Americans to undertake a long overdue public discussion on how they might best reform this most hallowed document and construct a constitution adequate to our democratic values.