Taking the Constitution Away from the Courts (eBook)

Mark Tushnet (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF | EPUB

2000
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-1-4008-2297-3 (ISBN)

Infos

TushnetMark:

Mark Tushnet is Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown University Law Center and the author of Red, White and Blue: A Critical Analysis of Constitutional Law and of a two-volume study of the career of Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall, Making Civil Rights Law: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court, 1936-1961 and Making Constitutional Law: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court, 1961-1991. He is also the coauthor of a leading casebook on constitutional law and was from 1975 to 1985 the Secretary of the Conference on Critical Legal Studies.

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Here a leading scholar in constitutional law, Mark Tushnet, challenges hallowed American traditions of judicial review and judicial supremacy, which allow U.S. judges to invalidate "e;unconstitutional"e; governmental actions. Many people, particularly liberals, have "e;warm and fuzzy"e; feelings about judicial review. They are nervous about what might happen to unprotected constitutional provisions in the chaotic worlds of practical politics and everyday life. By examining a wide range of situations involving constitutional rights, Tushnet vigorously encourages us all to take responsibility for protecting our liberties. Guarding them is not the preserve of judges, he maintains, but a commitment of the citizenry to define itself as "e;We the People of the United States."e; The Constitution belongs to us collectively, as we act in political dialogue with each other--whether in the street, in the voting booth, or in the legislature as representatives of others. Tushnet urges that we create a "e;populist"e; constitutional law in which judicial declarations deserve no special consideration. But he warns that in so doing we must pursue reasonable interpretations of the "e;thin Constitution"e;--the fundamental American principles embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the Constitution. A populist Constitution, he maintains, will be more effective than a document exclusively protected by the courts. Tushnet believes, for example, that the serious problems of the communist scare of the 1950s were aggravated when Senator Joseph McCarthy's opponents were lulled into inaction, believing that the judicial branch would step in and declare McCarthy's actions unconstitutional. Instead of fulfilling the expectations, the Court allowed McCarthy to continue his crusade until it was ended. Tushnet points out that in this context and in many others, errors occurred because of the existence of judicial review: neither the People nor their representatives felt empowered to enforce the Constitution because they mistakenly counted on the courts to do so. Tushnet's clarion call for a new kind of constitutional law will be essential reading for constitutional law experts, political scientists, and others interested in how and if the freedoms of the American Republic can survive into the twenty-first century.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 24.7.2000
• Verlagsort: Princeton
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Recht / Steuern ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Themenwelt: Recht / Steuern ► EU / Internationales Recht
• Themenwelt: Recht / Steuern ► Öffentliches Recht ► Verfassungsrecht
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Systeme
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Staat / Verwaltung
• Schlagworte: Abortion-rights movements • Abrams v. United States • Ambiguity (law) • Amendment • Brandenburg v. Ohio • bribery • Brown v. Board of Education • Censorship • Chilling Effect • City of Boerne v. Flores • Civil disobedience • civil disorder • consent of the governed • Consideration • constitutional amendment • constitutional crisis • Constitutionalism • Constitutionality • constitutional law • Contempt of Court • Cooper v. Aaron • Corrupt Bargain • Criticism of government • defamation • Dennis v. United States • desegregation • Desegregation busing • dictatorship of the proletariat • Disarmament • Disfranchisement • dissent • Eminent domain • Employment Division v. Smith • Equal Rights Amendment • Exclusion • False statement • Flag desecration • foreclosure • freedom of speech • Hustler Magazine v. Falwell • hypocrisy • Immigration Law • Imminent lawless action • Impeachment • Impediment (canon law) • Indian Removal • Insular Cases • Judicial Activism • Judicial interpretation • Judicial restraint • Legislation • Legislative veto • Legislator • Legislature • Lewis F. Powell Jr. • Liberalism • Line-item veto • Nativism (politics) • Nixon v. United States • nonbeliever • Opportunism • Planned Parenthood v. Casey • Police power (United States constitutional law) • political agenda • Political Liberalism • Political Philosophy • Political question • Political violence • Politician • Politics • Precedent • Prophylactic rule • Provision (contracting) • Public Policy • public reason • Racism • Regulatory taking • Religious Freedom Restoration Act • Roe v. Wade • Rule of Law • Schenck v. United States • Secession • Sedition • separation of church and state • Separation of Powers • separatism • Slavery • Slouching Towards Gomorrah • State immunity • Statute • Subversion • Term limit • Thou shalt not steal • Totalitarianism • United States v. Eichman • United States v. O'Brien • Veto • Violation of law • Whren v. United States • Yates v. United States
• ISBN-10: 1-4008-2297-1 / 1400822971
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4008-2297-3 / 9781400822973