Constitutional Faith by Sanford Levinson

Posted by

By Sanford Levinson

This e-book examines the "constitutional faith" that has, considering that 1788, been a critical component to American "civil religion." via taking heavily the parallel among wholehearted attractiveness of the structure and spiritual religion, Sanford Levinson opens up a bunch of interesting questions on what it capacity to be American. whereas a few view the structure because the imperative component to an American faith that serves to unite the social order, Levinson keeps that its sacred function may end up in clash, fragmentation, or even battle. To Levinson, the Constitution's worth lies within the realm of the discourse it sustains: a uniquely American type of political rhetoric that permits voters to grapple with each very important public factor imaginable.

In a brand new afterword, Levinson appears on the deepening of constitutional worship and attributes the present frequent frustrations with the govt to the static nature of the structure.

Show description

Read Online or Download Constitutional Faith PDF

Similar constitutional law books

No Price Too High: Victimless Crimes and the Ninth Amendment

Hardaway argues the criminalization of victimless crimes violates the 9th modification to the U. S. structure and creates huge, immense public coverage difficulties within the society. He contends that the 9th modification adjudication version and the thoughts of self-determination and the damage precept are the factors to which privateness matters will be litigated.

Rousseau, Law and the Sovereignty of the People

Including Plato's Republic, Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Social agreement is considered the most unique examples of utopian political engineering within the historical past of rules. just like the Republic, Rousseau's masterwork is healthier recognized this day for its author's idiosyncratic view of political justice than its classes on lawmaking or governance in any concrete feel.

Emergency Powers in Asia: Exploring the Limits of Legality

What's the relevance of latest debates over emergency powers for nations located in Asia? What function does, and may, the structure play in constraining those powers? The essays during this assortment deal with those concerns, drawing on emergency events in over 20 international locations in Asia as a ready-made laboratory for exploring the connection among emergency powers and constitutionalism.

Constitutionalism and the Rule of Law: Bridging Idealism and Realism

Rule of legislation and constitutionalist beliefs are understood through many, if no longer so much, as essential to create a simply political order. Defying the normal department among normative and confident theoretical methods, this booklet explores how political truth at the one hand, and constitutional beliefs at the different, together tell and impression one another.

Extra resources for Constitutional Faith

Example text

Certain forms of government are precluded by constitutional design. For example, monarchies, theocracies, or dictatorships are not even in the running. ∂≥ A stricter sense of fidelity is unavailable. ∂∂ My goal is to provide a theory whose centerpiece is constitutional change. In order to accomplish this, we must stress actual practice. We must avoid ideological commitments to a priori conceptions of constitutional methodology, such as textualism, originalism, structuralism, or normativism. The best way to understand constitutional adjudication is to view it from an engaged but uncommitted perspective.

These instructions include definitions of types of cases, the appropriate standard of review, the kind of analysis dictated by that standard, and theoretical factors justifying the preferred approach to that type of case. The Crisis of American Constitutionalism 23 Constitutional revolutions create or change these paradigms and cannot be explained merely by appealing to the preceding constitutional paradigms. Instead, constitutional revolutions depend upon factors extrinsic to constitutional practice for their explanation.

History depends upon a jurisprudential account of how judges reason in order to identify the processes with which judges historically decide cases. Although a historical account seeks to identify critical historical trends that can provide explanations of di√erent constitutional moments, the Court’s role in history can be determined only by identifying the relevant jurisprudence of constitutional law. Thus, the problem of adjudication is the central jurisprudential question upon which a historical account depends.

Download PDF sample

Rated 4.53 of 5 – based on 7 votes