Share

Constitutional Originalism

2011-06-06 Law
Download Constitutional Originalism PDF Online Free

Author :
Release : 2011-06-06
Genre : Law
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 111/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK


Book Synopsis Constitutional Originalism by : Robert W. Bennett

Download or read book Constitutional Originalism written by Robert W. Bennett. This book was released on 2011-06-06. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Problems of constitutional interpretation have many faces, but much of the contemporary discussion has focused on what has come to be called "originalism." The core of originalism is the belief that fidelity to the original understanding of the Constitution should constrain contemporary judges. As originalist thinking has evolved, it has become clear that there is a family of originalist theories, some emphasizing the intent of the framers, while others focus on the original public meaning of the constitutional text. This idea has enjoyed a modern resurgence, in good part in reaction to the assumption of more sweeping power by the judiciary, operating in the name of constitutional interpretation. Those arguing for a "living Constitution" that keeps up with a changing world and changing values have resisted originalism. This difference in legal philosophy and jurisprudence has, since the 1970s, spilled over into party politics and the partisan wrangling over court appointments from appellate courts to the Supreme Court. In Constitutional Originalism, Robert W. Bennett and Lawrence B. Solum elucidate the two sides of this debate and mediate between them in order to separate differences that are real from those that are only apparent. In a thorough exploration of the range of contemporary views on originalism, the authors articulate and defend sharply contrasting positions. Solum brings learning from the philosophy of language to his argument in favor of originalism, and Bennett highlights interpretational problems in the dispute-resolution context, describing instances in which a living Constitution is a more feasible and productive position. The book explores those contrasting positions, to be sure, but also uncovers important points of agreement for the interpretational enterprise. This provocative and absorbing book ends with a bibliographic essay that points to landmark works in the field and helps lay readers and students orient themselves within the literature of the debate.

Originalism and the Good Constitution

2013-11-01 Law
Download Originalism and the Good Constitution PDF Online Free

Author :
Release : 2013-11-01
Genre : Law
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 26X/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK


Book Synopsis Originalism and the Good Constitution by : John O. McGinnis

Download or read book Originalism and the Good Constitution written by John O. McGinnis. This book was released on 2013-11-01. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originalism holds that the U.S. Constitution should be interpreted according to its meaning at the time it was enacted. In their innovative defense of originalism, John McGinnis and Michael Rappaport maintain that the text of the Constitution should be adhered to by the Supreme Court because it was enacted by supermajorities--both its original enactment under Article VII and subsequent Amendments under Article V. A text approved by supermajorities has special value in a democracy because it has unusually wide support and thus tends to maximize the welfare of the greatest number. The authors recognize and respond to many possible objections. Does originalism perpetuate the dead hand of the past? How can originalism be justified, given the exclusion of African Americans and women from the Constitution and many of its subsequent Amendments? What is originalism's place in interpretation, after two hundred years of non-originalist precedent? A fascinating counterfactual they pose is this: had the Supreme Court not interpreted the Constitution so freely, perhaps the nation would have resorted to the Article V amendment process more often and with greater effect. Their book will be an important contribution to the literature on originalism, now the most prominent theory of constitutional interpretation.

Against Constitutional Originalism

2024-09-03 Law
Download Against Constitutional Originalism PDF Online Free

Author :
Release : 2024-09-03
Genre : Law
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 36X/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK


Book Synopsis Against Constitutional Originalism by : Jonathan Gienapp

Download or read book Against Constitutional Originalism written by Jonathan Gienapp. This book was released on 2024-09-03. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A detailed and compelling examination of how the legal theory of originalism ignores and distorts the very constitutional history from which it derives interpretive authority Constitutional originalism stakes law to history. The theory’s core tenet—that the U.S. Constitution should be interpreted according to its original meaning—has us decide questions of modern constitutional law by consulting the distant constitutional past. Yet originalist engagement with history is often deeply problematic. And now that a majority of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court champion originalism, the task of scrutinizing originalists’ use and abuse of history has never been more urgent. In this comprehensive and novel critique of originalism, Jonathan Gienapp targets originalists’ unspoken assumptions about the Constitution and its history. Originalists are committed to recovering the Constitution laid down at the American Founding, yet they often assume that the Constitution is fundamentally modern. Rather than recovering the original Constitution, they project their own understandings onto it, assuming that eighteenth-century constitutional thinking was no different than their own. They take for granted what it meant to write a constitution down, what law was, how it worked, and where it came from, and how a constitution’s meaning was fixed. In the process, they erase the Constitution that eighteenth-century Americans in fact created. By understanding how originalism fails, we can better understand the Constitution that we have.

Originalism in American Law and Politics

2005-07-12 History
Download Originalism in American Law and Politics PDF Online Free

Author :
Release : 2005-07-12
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 114/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK


Book Synopsis Originalism in American Law and Politics by : Johnathan O'Neill

Download or read book Originalism in American Law and Politics written by Johnathan O'Neill. This book was released on 2005-07-12. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explains how the debate over originalism emerged from the interaction of constitutional theory, U.S. Supreme Court decisions, and American political development. Refuting the contention that originalism is a recent concoction of political conservatives like Robert Bork, Johnathan O'Neill asserts that recent appeals to the origin of the Constitution in Supreme Court decisions and commentary, especially by Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, continue an established pattern in American history. Originalism in American Law and Politics is distinguished by its historical approach to the topic. Drawing on constitutional commentary and treatises, Supreme Court and lower federal court opinions, congressional hearings, and scholarly monographs, O'Neill's work will be valuable to historians, academic lawyers, and political scientists.

Living Originalism

2011-11-29 Law
Download Living Originalism PDF Online Free

Author :
Release : 2011-11-29
Genre : Law
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 031/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK


Book Synopsis Living Originalism by : Jack M. Balkin

Download or read book Living Originalism written by Jack M. Balkin. This book was released on 2011-11-29. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originalism and living constitutionalism, so often understood to be diametrically opposing views of our nation’s founding document, are not in conflict—they are compatible. So argues Jack Balkin, one of the leading constitutional scholars of our time, in this long-awaited book. Step by step, Balkin gracefully outlines a constitutional theory that demonstrates why modern conceptions of civil rights and civil liberties, and the modern state’s protection of national security, health, safety, and the environment, are fully consistent with the Constitution’s original meaning. And he shows how both liberals and conservatives, working through political parties and social movements, play important roles in the ongoing project of constitutional construction. By making firm rules but also deliberately incorporating flexible standards and abstract principles, the Constitution’s authors constructed a framework for politics on which later generations could build. Americans have taken up this task, producing institutions and doctrines that flesh out the Constitution’s text and principles. Balkin’s analysis offers a way past the angry polemics of our era, a deepened understanding of the Constitution that is at once originalist and living constitutionalist, and a vision that allows all Americans to reclaim the Constitution as their own.

You may also like...