A Living Bill of Rights

A Living Bill of Rights PDF Author: William Orville Douglas
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Civil rights
Languages : en
Pages : 88

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Book Description
States a philosophy or point of view concerning the Bill of Rights and is written in the manner of articles of faith.

A Living Bill of Rights

A Living Bill of Rights PDF Author: William Orville Douglas
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Civil rights
Languages : en
Pages : 88

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Book Description
States a philosophy or point of view concerning the Bill of Rights and is written in the manner of articles of faith.

The Living Constitution

The Living Constitution PDF Author: David A. Strauss
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199703698
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 171

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Book Description
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia once remarked that the theory of an evolving, "living" Constitution effectively "rendered the Constitution useless." He wanted a "dead Constitution," he joked, arguing it must be interpreted as the framers originally understood it. In The Living Constitution, leading constitutional scholar David Strauss forcefully argues against the claims of Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Robert Bork, and other "originalists," explaining in clear, jargon-free English how the Constitution can sensibly evolve, without falling into the anything-goes flexibility caricatured by opponents. The living Constitution is not an out-of-touch liberal theory, Strauss further shows, but a mainstream tradition of American jurisprudence--a common-law approach to the Constitution, rooted in the written document but also based on precedent. Each generation has contributed precedents that guide and confine judicial rulings, yet allow us to meet the demands of today, not force us to follow the commands of the long-dead Founders. Strauss explores how judicial decisions adapted the Constitution's text (and contradicted original intent) to produce some of our most profound accomplishments: the end of racial segregation, the expansion of women's rights, and the freedom of speech. By contrast, originalism suffers from fatal flaws: the impossibility of truly divining original intent, the difficulty of adapting eighteenth-century understandings to the modern world, and the pointlessness of chaining ourselves to decisions made centuries ago. David Strauss is one of our leading authorities on Constitutional law--one with practical knowledge as well, having served as Assistant Solicitor General of the United States and argued eighteen cases before the United States Supreme Court. Now he offers a profound new understanding of how the Constitution can remain vital to life in the twenty-first century.

Living the Bill of Rights

Living the Bill of Rights PDF Author: Nat Hentoff
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520219816
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
One of America's most passionate writers about civil liberties enlivens issues about The Bill of Rights by giving profiles of individuals for whom the Constitution is a vital part of life.

The Words We Live By

The Words We Live By PDF Author: Linda R. Monk
Publisher: Hachette Books
ISBN: 0316381861
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 674

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Book Description
The Words We Live By takes an entertaining and informative look at America's most important historical document, now with discussions on new rulings on hot button issues such as immigration, gay marriage, gun control, and affirmative action. In The Words We Live By, Linda Monk probes the idea that the Constitution may seem to offer cut-and-dried answers to questions regarding personal rights, but the interpretations of this hallowed document are nearly infinite. For example, in the debate over gun control, does "the right of the people to bear arms" as stated in the Second Amendment pertain to individual citizens or regulated militias? What do scholars say? Should the Internet be regulated and censored, or does this impinge on the freedom of speech as defined in the First Amendment? These and other issues vary depending on the interpretation of the Constitution. Through entertaining and informative annotations, The Words We Live By offers a new way of looking at the Constitution. Its pages reflect a critical, respectful and appreciative look at one of history's greatest documents. The Words We Live By is filled with a rich and engaging historical perspective along with enough surprises and fascinating facts and illustrations to prove that your Constitution is a living -- and entertaining -- document. Updated now for the first time, The Words We Live By continues to take an entertaining and informative look at America's most important historical document, now with discussions on new rulings on hot button issues such as immigration, gay marriage, and affirmative action.

The Heart of the Constitution

The Heart of the Constitution PDF Author: Gerard N. Magliocca
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190271604
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
This is the untold story of the most celebrated part of the Constitution. Until the twentieth century, few Americans called the first ten constitutional amendments drafted by James Madison in 1789 and ratified by the states in 1791 the Bill of Rights. Even more surprising, when people finally started doing so between the Spanish-American War and World War II, the Bill of Rights was usually invoked to justify increasing rather than restricting the authority of the federal government. President Franklin D. Roosevelt played a key role in that development, first by using the Bill of Rights to justify the expansion of national regulation under the New Deal, and then by transforming the Bill of Rights into a patriotic rallying cry against Nazi Germany. It was only after the Cold War began that the Bill of Rights took on its modern form as the most powerful symbol of the limits on government power. These are just some of the revelations about the Bill of Rights in Gerard Magliocca's The Heart of the Constitution. For example, we are accustomed to seeing the Bill of Rights at the end of the Constitution, but Madison wanted to put them in the middle of the document. Why was his plan rejected and what impact did that have on constitutional law? Today we also venerate the first ten amendments as the Bill of Rights, but many Supreme Court opinions say that only the first eight or first nine amendments. Why was that and why did that change? The Bill of Rights that emerges from Magliocca's fresh historical examination is a living text that means something different for each generation and reflects the great ideas of the Constitution--individual freedom, democracy, states' rights, judicial review, and national power in time of crisis.

America's Unwritten Constitution

America's Unwritten Constitution PDF Author: Akhil Reed Amar
Publisher: Basic Books (AZ)
ISBN: 0465029574
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 644

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Book Description
Reading between the lines: America's implicit Constitution -- Heeding the deed: America's enacted Constitution -- Hearing the people: America's lived Constitution -- Confronting modern case law: America's "warrented" Constitution -- Putting precedent in its place: America's doctrinal Constitution -- Honoring the icons: America's symbolic Constitution -- "Remembering the ladies" : America's feminist Constitution -- Following Washington's lead: America's "Georgian" Constitution -- Interpreting government practices: America's institutional Constitution -- Joining the party: America's partisan Constitution -- Doing the right thing: America's conscientious Constitution -- Envisioning the future: America's unfinished Constitution -- Afterward -- Appendix: America's written Constitution.

The Right to Privacy

The Right to Privacy PDF Author: Samuel D. Brandeis, Louis D. Warren
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 3732645487
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 42

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Book Description
Reproduction of the original: The Right to Privacy by Samuel D. Warren, Louis D. Brandeis

A Kids' Guide to America's Bill of Rights

A Kids' Guide to America's Bill of Rights PDF Author: Kathleen Krull
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0380974975
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
Which 462 words are so important that they've changed American history more than once? The Bill of Rights: the first ten amendments to the Constitution, the crucial document that spells out how the United States is to be governed. Find out what the Bill of Rights is and how it affects your daily life in this fascinating look at the history, significance, and mysteries of these laws that protect the individual freedoms of everyone -- even young people. Why did early American founders (like James Madison, Congressman from Virginia) argue that individuals needed a Bill of Rights to protect them from government? Why is freedom of speech so thrilling and so controversial? What is religious intolerance, and when can it be fatal? What does it really mean to take the Fifth? And how does the Bill of Rights affect the rights of kids? Packed with anecdotes and sidebars, case studies, and humorous illustrations, innovative author Kathleen Krull's introduction to the Bill of Rights brings a little understood topic vividly to life.

The Freedom to Read

The Freedom to Read PDF Author: American Library Association
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Libraries
Languages : en
Pages : 16

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Book Description


The Bill of Rights

The Bill of Rights PDF Author: Carol Berkin
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476743819
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
“Narrative, celebratory history at its purest” (Publishers Weekly)—the real story of how the Bill of Rights came to be: a vivid account of political strategy, big egos, and the partisan interests that set the terms of the ongoing contest between the federal government and the states. Those who argue that the Bill of Rights reflects the founding fathers’ “original intent” are wrong. The Bill of Rights was actually a brilliant political act executed by James Madison to preserve the Constitution, the federal government, and the latter’s authority over the states. In the skilled hands of award-winning historian Carol Berkin, the story of the founders’ fight over the Bill of Rights comes alive in a drama full of partisanship, clashing egos, and cunning manipulation. In 1789, the nation faced a great divide around a question still unanswered today: should broad power and authority reside in the federal government or should it reside in state governments? The Bill of Rights, from protecting religious freedom to the people’s right to bear arms, was a political ploy first and a matter of principle second. The truth of how and why Madison came to devise this plan, the debates it caused in the Congress, and its ultimate success is more engrossing than any of the myths that shroud our national beginnings. The debate over the Bill of Rights still continues through many Supreme Court decisions. By pulling back the curtain on the short-sighted and self-interested intentions of the founding fathers, Berkin reveals the anxiety many felt that the new federal government might not survive—and shows that the true “original intent” of the Bill of Rights was simply to oppose the Antifederalists who hoped to diminish the government’s powers. This book is “a highly readable American history lesson that provides a deeper understanding of the Bill of Rights, the fears that generated it, and the miracle of the amendments” (Kirkus Reviews).