Conservative Thought and American Constitutionalism since the New Deal

Conservative Thought and American Constitutionalism since the New Deal PDF Author: Johnathan O'Neill
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421444631
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 398

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Book Description
An intellectual history of American conservativism since the New Deal. The New Deal fundamentally changed the institutions of American constitutional government and, in turn, the relationship of Americans to their government. Johnathan O'Neill's Conservative Thought and American Constitutionalism since the New Deal examines how various types of conservative thinkers responded to this significant turning point in the second half of the twentieth century. O'Neill identifies four fundamental transformations engendered by the New Deal: the rise of the administrative state, the erosion of federalism, the ascendance of the modern presidency, and the development of modern judicial review. He then considers how various schools of conservative thought (traditionalists, neoconservatives, libertarians, Straussians) responded to these major changes in American politics and culture. Conservatives frequently argued among themselves, and their responses to the New Deal ranged from adaptation to condemnation to political mobilization. Ultimately, the New Deal pulled American governance and society permanently leftward. Although some of the New Deal's liberal gains have been eroded, a true conservative counterrevolution was never, O'Neill argues, a realistic possibility. He concludes with a plea for conservative thinkers to seriously reconsider the role of Congress—a body that is relatively ignored by conservative intellectuals in favor of the courts and the presidency—in America's constitutional order. Conservative Thought and American Constitutionalism since the New Deal explores the scope and significance of conservative constitutional analysis amid the broader field of American political thought.

Conservative Thought and American Constitutionalism since the New Deal

Conservative Thought and American Constitutionalism since the New Deal PDF Author: Johnathan O'Neill
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421444631
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 398

Get Book Here

Book Description
An intellectual history of American conservativism since the New Deal. The New Deal fundamentally changed the institutions of American constitutional government and, in turn, the relationship of Americans to their government. Johnathan O'Neill's Conservative Thought and American Constitutionalism since the New Deal examines how various types of conservative thinkers responded to this significant turning point in the second half of the twentieth century. O'Neill identifies four fundamental transformations engendered by the New Deal: the rise of the administrative state, the erosion of federalism, the ascendance of the modern presidency, and the development of modern judicial review. He then considers how various schools of conservative thought (traditionalists, neoconservatives, libertarians, Straussians) responded to these major changes in American politics and culture. Conservatives frequently argued among themselves, and their responses to the New Deal ranged from adaptation to condemnation to political mobilization. Ultimately, the New Deal pulled American governance and society permanently leftward. Although some of the New Deal's liberal gains have been eroded, a true conservative counterrevolution was never, O'Neill argues, a realistic possibility. He concludes with a plea for conservative thinkers to seriously reconsider the role of Congress—a body that is relatively ignored by conservative intellectuals in favor of the courts and the presidency—in America's constitutional order. Conservative Thought and American Constitutionalism since the New Deal explores the scope and significance of conservative constitutional analysis amid the broader field of American political thought.

Originalism in American Law and Politics

Originalism in American Law and Politics PDF Author: Johnathan O'Neill
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 9780801881114
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
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.

American Conservatism, 1900-1930

American Conservatism, 1900-1930 PDF Author: Joseph Postell
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1498533914
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
This book presents the most significant speeches and writings of American constitutional conservatives during the period 1900-1930. Figures such as William Howard Taft, Calvin Coolidge, Elihu Root, Warren Harding, and David Jayne Hill present the alternative arguments that challenged the leading Progressive views of the period. Issues such as natural rights, civil rights, economic regulation, federalism, executive power, political parties, and foreign policy are addressed in these primary sources, many of which are reproduced for the first time. The readings in this book are relevant not only for understanding the political issues of the Progressive Era, but also for understanding the foundations of contemporary American conservatism.

Taking Back the Constitution

Taking Back the Constitution PDF Author: Mark Tushnet
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300252900
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
How the Supreme Court’s move to the right has distorted both logic and the Constitution What Supreme Court justices do is far more than just “calling balls and strikes.” The Court has never simply evaluated laws and arguments in light of permanent and immutable constitutional meanings. Social, moral, and yes, political ideas have always played into the justices’ impressions of how they think a case should be decided. Mark Tushnet traces the ways constitutional thought has evolved, from the liberalism of the New Deal and the Great Society to the Reagan conservatism that has been dominant since the 1980s. Looking at the current crossroads in the constitutional order, Tushnet explores the possibilities of either a Trumpian entrenchment of the most extreme ideas of the Reagan philosophy, or a dramatic and destabilizing move to the left. Wary of either outcome, he offers a passionate and informed argument for replacing judicial supremacy with popular constitutionalism—a move that would restore to the other branches of government a role in deciding constitutional questions.

The Most Activist Supreme Court in History

The Most Activist Supreme Court in History PDF Author: Thomas M. Keck
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226428869
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 394

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Book Description
When conservatives took control of the federal judiciary in the 1980s, it was widely assumed that they would reverse the landmark rights-protecting precedents set by the Warren Court and replace them with a broad commitment to judicial restraint. Instead, the Supreme Court under Chief Justice William Rehnquist has reaffirmed most of those liberal decisions while creating its own brand of conservative judicial activism. Ranging from 1937 to the present, The Most Activist Supreme Court in History traces the legal and political forces that have shaped the modern Court. Thomas M. Keck argues that the tensions within modern conservatism have produced a court that exercises its own power quite actively, on behalf of both liberal and conservative ends. Despite the long-standing conservative commitment to restraint, the justices of the Rehnquist Court have stepped in to settle divisive political conflicts over abortion, affirmative action, gay rights, presidential elections, and much more. Keck focuses in particular on the role of Justices O'Connor and Kennedy, whose deciding votes have shaped this uncharacteristically activist Court.

Common-law Liberty

Common-law Liberty PDF Author: James Reist Stoner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
In an ere as morally confused as ours, Stoner argues, we at least ought to know what we've abandoned or suppressed in the name of judicial activism and the modern rights-oriented Constitution. Having lost our way, perhaps the common law, in its original sense, provides a way back, a viable alternative to the debilitating relativism of our current age.

The Conservative Sensibility

The Conservative Sensibility PDF Author: George F. Will
Publisher: Hachette Books
ISBN: 0316480916
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 598

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Book Description
The Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist's "astonishing" and "enthralling" New York Times bestseller and Notable Book about how the Founders' belief in natural rights created a great American political tradition (Booklist) -- "easily one of the best books on American Conservatism ever written" (Jonah Goldberg). For more than four decades, George F. Will has attempted to discern the principles of the Western political tradition and apply them to America's civic life. Today, the stakes could hardly be higher. Vital questions about the nature of man, of rights, of equality, of majority rule are bubbling just beneath the surface of daily events in America. The Founders' vision, articulated first in the Declaration of Independence and carried out in the Constitution, gave the new republic a framework for government unique in world history. Their beliefs in natural rights, limited government, religious freedom, and in human virtue and dignity ushered in two centuries of American prosperity. Now, as Will shows, conservatism is under threat -- both from progressives and elements inside the Republican Party. America has become an administrative state, while destructive trends have overtaken family life and higher education. Semi-autonomous executive agencies wield essentially unaccountable power. Congress has failed in its duty to exercise its legislative powers. And the executive branch has slipped the Constitution's leash. In the intellectual battle between the vision of Founding Fathers like James Madison, who advanced the notion of natural rights that pre-exist government, and the progressivism advanced by Woodrow Wilson, the Founders have been losing. It's time to reverse America's political fortunes. Expansive, intellectually thrilling, and written with the erudite wit that has made Will beloved by millions of readers, The Conservative Sensibility is an extraordinary new book from one of America's most celebrated political writers.

Our Undemocratic Constitution

Our Undemocratic Constitution PDF Author: Sanford Levinson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195365577
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
Levinson here argues that too many of our Constitution's provisions promote either unjust or ineffective government. Under the existing blueprint, we can neither rid ourselves of incompetent presidents nor assure continuity of government following catastrophic attacks. Worse, our Constitution is the most difficult to amend or update in the world. Levinson boldly challenges the Americans to undertake a long overdue public discussion on how they might best reform this most hallowed document and construct a constitution adequate to our democratic values.

Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States

Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States PDF Author: Joseph Story
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Constitutional history
Languages : en
Pages : 800

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Book Description


Constitutional Politics in a Conservative Era

Constitutional Politics in a Conservative Era PDF Author: Austin Sarat
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
ISBN: 0762314869
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
Aims to bring together the work of leading scholars of Constitutionalism, Constitutional law, and politics in the United States to take stock of the field to chart its progress, and point the way for its future development.