American Constitutionalism, Marriage, and the Family

Patrick N. Cain is associate professor of political science at Lakehead University.David Ramsey is assistant professor of government and pre-law advisor at the University of West Florida.

[This book] is essential reading for anyone who has an interest in the complicated legal, philosophical, and historical issues that are behind our contemporary debates about marriage and the family. Unfortunately, the way these debates are often conducted online, in public, and at universities and colleges—usually accompanied by rhetorical excesses and personal recriminations—they rarely reveal that the plausibility of each side’s case depends on deeper principles that are far from uncontroversial. In this regard, American Constitutionalism, Marriage, and the Family is a breath of fresh air.

• Introduction, Patrick N. Cain and David RamseyChapter One: Defending the Christian Idea of Marriage Today: The Place of the Personal Logos, Peter Augustine LawlerChapter Two: The Household and the City in Classical Political Philosophy and in John Witte, Jr.’s Account of History of Western Jurisprudence, Terence J. KlevenChapter Three: The Triumph of the Right of Intimate Association, William C. DuncanChapter Four: Free and Happy Bonds: Loving v. Virginia’s Nineteenth Century Precedent on Marriage and the Pursuit of Happiness, Adam M. CarringtonChapter Five: On the Marriage of Dred Scott, David RamseyChapter Six: Back to the Future: Reynolds Revisited and the Structure of the American Family, Martha Rice MartiniChapter Seven: Sterilization, Reproductive Rights, and the Ninth Amendment, Lauren K. HallChapter Eight: Limited Government and the Family: Rival Jurisprudential Models, Mark A. ScullyChapter Nine: Liberalism, the Family, and the Right to Privacy: Griswold v. Connecticut and Its Proge