Teaching Texts in Law and Politics – serie

Judicial opinions written by justices of the United States Supreme Court are readily available, yet few Americans will ever examine the full substance of a Court opinion. Students, particularly undergraduate students with no real expertise (or interest) in the law, can find reading opinions an overwhelming and laborious process.The opinions of Justice Scalia are a different matter. Scalia is often sarcastic, smug, and self-assured. He does not hesitate to take his colleagues to task when he feels they are wrong and does not mind stooping to ridicule and personal attack when it serves his point. In short, whether a reader agrees or disagrees with the points that Scalia seeks to make through these opinions, they are not boring. The layperson as well as the student of government, political science, and law will find the words of Justice Scalia well worth reading. Teachers will find these opinions useful for stimulating class discussions at every level.

Liberal Constitutionalism, Marriage, and Sexual Orientation: A Contemporary Case for Dis-Establishment uses constitutional theory and political philosophy to shed light on an elusive feature of American jurisprudence: the establishment of a sectarian preference in the law to the detriment of American citizens who happen to be gay or lesbian and who wish to exercise their fundamental right to marry. Reviewing aspects of liberal-democratic theory, marriage law, and pertinent analogies that deal with the right to marry, Gordon Albert Babst presents the notion of the «shadow establishment,» which makes the best sense of a constitutional affirmation of bias against same-sex marriage and gay persons in the law.

Over two hundred years ago, the United States enacted a constitutional amendment ensuring the ability of states to form militias. Although the militia has become obsolete, over 30,000 Americans die every year by gunfire. Both pro-gun and pro-control advocates put forth credible proposals for reducing gun violence, but all too often this public policy debate gets sidetracked by invocation of the Second Amendment right to bear arms, which improperly makes a constitutional issue out of a public policy matter. This book argues for the repeal of the Second Amendment because this amendment no longer serves its original constitutional purpose, and it disrupts the contemporary gun debate.

This book assesses the desirability of legalising euthanasia. From the ethical perspective, euthanasia raises many important issues including the right to life, the right to liberty, the avoidance of unnecessary pain, the appropriate allocation of medical resources, and the rights and duties of doctors. Other relevant considerations include the improving standard of palliative care and the «slippery slope» argument. The central arguments for and against euthanasia are evaluated against the background of the leading contemporary moral theories. This book seeks to cut through the rhetoric that has become a feature of the debate and asks whether there is a sound reason for denying the wishes of individuals who express their wish to die.

Despite the increasing recognition of judges as political actors, few studies have empirically explored the role and function of courts in repressive regimes. Based on individual case studies as well as empirical analyses of all the reported decisions of the highest appellate court in South Africa, Judging in Black and White: Decision Making in the South African Appellate Division, 1950-1990 creates a portrait of the individuals who staffed the bench during the rise and fall of apartheid. This book explores the dilemma of judging in a system that juxtaposes the formal law and the repressive law. Regardless of their adherence to a formal-law approach to judging, the adjudicative function cannot be fully separated from the larger moral questions embedded in these systems. This text evaluates the response of judges to this dilemma through institutional, individual and longitudinal analyses of judicial decision making.

It is not always clear what actually constitutes «sexual harassment» or how it differs from other types of discrimination based on gender. Often, what is thought of as sexual harassment by one person might be considered simply rude or immature behavior by another. While sexual harassment is a major issue in American workplaces and schools, there is no bona fide consensus as to what sexual harassment really is. This book is designed to bring together material on an issue that is currently troubling most workplaces and schools in the United States: the problem of how to deal with a distressing increase in sexual harassment claims in all areas of American life. It does not attempt to answer all of the questions of how best to prevent sexual harassment while preserving the rights of the accused – no book can provide such answers; rather, it is designed to provide readers with a variety of material to begin the journey of discovering these answers for themselves.

Speech, Conduct, and the First Amendment offers a concise yet thorough review of all areas of First Amendment jurisprudence, including historical background and the most recent developments. Points of difference – as well as agreement – among justices of the Supreme Court are connected to broader theories of First Amendment and constitutional interpretation and politics. The presentation of substantial case excerpts and selected secondary materials provide opportunities for critical analysis, and readers are encouraged to reach their own conclusions about the relative merits of different interpretative approaches, while becoming familiar with the full range of past and present theories about the meaning of the First Amendment.

The Civil War shook America to the core of its constitutional foundations. Before the war, the Constitution protected slavery and kept power decentralized. During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln gathered enormous national power to combat what he called the «anarchy» of secession. After the war, the nation struggled to understand what had happened. Historians Christopher Waldrep and Lynne Curry have assembled a collection of constitutional documents to explore the meaning of the Civil War, the influence of constitutionalism on presidential war powers, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s fight to limit the war’s impact in post-Civil War America.

The rapid acceleration of industrialization and the transformation of market capitalism that followed the Civil War provided new opportunities for employment and wealth for many Americans. But these opportunities came at a cost: overcrowded and unsanitary housing, long work hours in dangerous conditions, and child labor in factories and mines. At the nineteenth century’s end, Progressivism emerged as a national movement to redress the extreme imbalances in wealth and power that had come to characterize American life and to ameliorate some of the worst consequences of industrialization. The United States Supreme Court struggled with questions of preserving individual and property rights versus government regulation on behalf of the public interest. Following the stock market crash of 1929, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal greatly expanded the regulatory state and brought about a constitutional revolution. This volume assembles the era’s most important Supreme Court decisions, treatises, articles, and speeches, documenting our nation’s Constitutional history from the Gilded Age through World War II.

In 1937 the Supreme Court revolutionized American constitutionalism, sharply restricting the states’ powers and expanding those of the national government. In following years the civil rights movement caused further change, challenging American life with its demands for equal rights under the Constitution and protection by the federal government. The Vietnam War expanded and then contracted presidential power. In 2001, attacks organized by followers of Osama bin Laden on American cities revived presidential power, leading to new challenges to America’s constitutional heritage. This volume assembles the most important documents from American constitutional history from the depths of the Great Depression to the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. on September 11, 2001. Through these important documents, American constitutional power can be seen surging and waning, but always responding to the drama of world events.

This book compares and contrasts several constitutional traditions from various regions of the world. The first chapter provides the foundation for norms, ideas, and values that frame this comparison. Western and Eastern concepts of law, the relationship of law and ideology, the common law and civil law systems, tribal law, property, rights and liberties, and other themes establish the basis for the remaining chapters of the book, which includes examinations of the American, British, Chinese, Canadian, Japanese, Indian, Nigerian, French, German, Saudi Arabian, and Mexican constitutional traditions within their legal and broader political contexts. This approach to comparative law at the constitutional level is the first one of its type, especially in terms of its diverse social science approach.

Greatness and leadership are two ideas that often intersect, especially in the imagery of leading the pack of more than one hundred Supreme Court justices. Despite differences in interpretation, there are points of agreement concerning the names of the most remarkable people who have been and are the leaders of the pack. This book clarifies constitutional law and the history of America’s highest bench by exploring the personalities and times of sixteen justices, from John Marshall to Sandra Day O’Connor and William H. Rehnquist.

In recent years, judicial elections have changed dramatically. The elections themselves have become increasingly partisan, interest group involvement in judicial races has escalated, recent court decisions have freed judicial candidates to speak more openly than ever before about their judicial ideologies, and the tenor of judicial campaigns has departed significantly from what were once low-key, sleepy affairs. This book examines the evolution of the new rough-and-tumble politics of judicial elections by focusing on Texas, a bellwether for the new judicial selection politics in America. The Texas experience illustrates what can – and usually will – go wrong when judges are elected, and lays the path for meaningful reforms to stem the tide of the new politics of judicial elections.

With its original documents and extensive interviews, Injustice for All is an authentic voice for civil liberties and change and the consequences that result. The book details the historical, legal, and political significance of the famous search-and-seizure case Mapp v. Ohio. From the underworld of gambling in 1960s Cleveland to the chambers of the Warren Court justices, the obscenity case becomes the vehicle for implementing the exclusionary rule. Dollree Mapp, the police who searched her, and all the major participants are followed throughout the investigation. The private papers of the justices reveal the inner workings of the nation's highest court. This book is essential for anyone interested in civil liberties and the processes of government as well as students of criminal justice and constitutional law.

Institutions & Public Law: Comparative Approaches is a set of essays on the politics of law and courts by leading public law scholars in the United States, Europe, and Latin America. The essays share the view that understanding courts requires attention to the political dynamics that shape judicial design and authority, as well as the position of courts within the broader political system. This volume is essential reading for undergraduate and graduate courses in judicial politics.