The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics

The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics PDF Author: Stephen Breyer
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674269365
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 113

Get Book

Book Description
A sitting justice reflects upon the authority of the Supreme CourtÑhow that authority was gained and how measures to restructure the Court could undermine both the Court and the constitutional system of checks and balances that depends on it. A growing chorus of officials and commentators argues that the Supreme Court has become too political. On this view the confirmation process is just an exercise in partisan agenda-setting, and the jurists are no more than Òpoliticians in robesÓÑtheir ostensibly neutral judicial philosophies mere camouflage for conservative or liberal convictions. Stephen Breyer, drawing upon his experience as a Supreme Court justice, sounds a cautionary note. Mindful of the CourtÕs history, he suggests that the judiciaryÕs hard-won authority could be marred by reforms premised on the assumption of ideological bias. Having, as Hamilton observed, Òno influence over either the sword or the purse,Ó the Court earned its authority by making decisions that have, over time, increased the publicÕs trust. If public trust is now in decline, one part of the solution is to promote better understandings of how the judiciary actually works: how judges adhere to their oaths and how they try to avoid considerations of politics and popularity. Breyer warns that political intervention could itself further erode public trust. Without the publicÕs trust, the Court would no longer be able to act as a check on the other branches of government or as a guarantor of the rule of law, risking serious harm to our constitutional system.

The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics

The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics PDF Author: Stephen Breyer
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674269365
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 113

Get Book

Book Description
A sitting justice reflects upon the authority of the Supreme CourtÑhow that authority was gained and how measures to restructure the Court could undermine both the Court and the constitutional system of checks and balances that depends on it. A growing chorus of officials and commentators argues that the Supreme Court has become too political. On this view the confirmation process is just an exercise in partisan agenda-setting, and the jurists are no more than Òpoliticians in robesÓÑtheir ostensibly neutral judicial philosophies mere camouflage for conservative or liberal convictions. Stephen Breyer, drawing upon his experience as a Supreme Court justice, sounds a cautionary note. Mindful of the CourtÕs history, he suggests that the judiciaryÕs hard-won authority could be marred by reforms premised on the assumption of ideological bias. Having, as Hamilton observed, Òno influence over either the sword or the purse,Ó the Court earned its authority by making decisions that have, over time, increased the publicÕs trust. If public trust is now in decline, one part of the solution is to promote better understandings of how the judiciary actually works: how judges adhere to their oaths and how they try to avoid considerations of politics and popularity. Breyer warns that political intervention could itself further erode public trust. Without the publicÕs trust, the Court would no longer be able to act as a check on the other branches of government or as a guarantor of the rule of law, risking serious harm to our constitutional system.

Popular Government

Popular Government PDF Author: William Howard Taft
Publisher: New Haven : Yale University Press
ISBN:
Category : Political science
Languages : en
Pages : 302

Get Book

Book Description


Popular Government

Popular Government PDF Author: William Howard Taft
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
ISBN: 1412831547
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 368

Get Book

Book Description
The modern presidency is increasingly seen as in troubleby all sides of the political spectrum and by people of themost diverse political views. Understanding why this isthe case requires examining the basic principles of thepresidency itself, and there is no better place to start thanWilliam Howard Taft's Popular Government. His views onexecutive power and constitutional interpretation of thispower are not rooted in nostalgia. Instead, Taft describeshow and why the Progressive Movement marked one ofthe major turning points in American political thought. Taft wrote out of concern over the nature of the Americansystem itself. He sought to describe the foundingprinciples of the country, arguing that grasping these isessential for Americans' understanding of themselves asa people and for their daily exercise of citizenship. Theconcerns he addressed remain central today. Th at is becauseTaft's quarrels with the liberal-progressive traditionin politics have not yet completely played themselves out,either in academic life, or in the political arena. In a brilliant new introduction, Sidney Pearson arguesthat neither Roosevelt nor Wilson should be viewed asenemies of free government by any serious student ofAmerican political thought, nor should Taft be so regardedeither. The concerns Taft engages remain important for anyunderstanding of the problems that confront the Americanexperiment in popular government. Popular Governmentis a basic introduction to debate about the nature of thepresidency and the larger constitutional context in whichsuch arguments take place. Th ere is no better way to gainperspective on the debate than reading this volume. William Howard Taft served as thetwenty-third president of the United Statesfrom 1909-1913 and as Chief Justice of theSupreme Court from 1921-1930. He is theonly person to have held the highest officein two of the three branches of Americangovernment. He wrote numerous booksincluding Our Chief Magistrate andHis Powers, The Anti-Trust Act and theSupreme Court, and The Covenanter: AnAmerican Exposition of the Covenant of the League of Nations. Sidney A. Pearson, Jr. is professor emeritus of political scienceat Radford University. He is also the series editor of Library ofLiberal Thought at Transaction Publishers.

The Perils of Federalism

The Perils of Federalism PDF Author: Lisa Lynn Miller
Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand
ISBN: 0195331680
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 265

Get Book

Book Description
"Taking readers from the streets of Philadelphia to the halls of Congress, she details how and why our system operates in the way that it does. Ultimately, the book not only challenges what we think about the advantages of relying on federal power for sensible and fair solutions to longstanding social problems. It also highlights the deep disconnect between the structure of the American political system and the ideals of democratic accountability."--BOOK JACKET.

Perils of Judicial Self-Government in Transitional Societies

Perils of Judicial Self-Government in Transitional Societies PDF Author: David Kosař
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107112125
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 487

Get Book

Book Description
This book investigates the mechanisms of judicial control to determine an efficient methodology for independence and accountability. Using over 800 case studies from the Czech and Slovak disciplinary courts, the author creates a theoretical framework that can be applied to future case studies and decrease the frequency of accountability perversions.

Democracies in Peril

Democracies in Peril PDF Author: Ida Bastiaens
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108470483
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 345

Get Book

Book Description
Explains the political factors behind the failure of many developing country democracies to benefit from globalization.

Popular Government

Popular Government PDF Author: William Howard Taft
Publisher: Forgotten Books
ISBN: 9781528374453
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 300

Get Book

Book Description
Excerpt from Popular Government: Its Essence, Its Permanence and Its Perils I came to Yale to assume my duties as Kent Professor of Law near the end of the school year, when it was not practical to add my courses of constitutional law to the then curriculum. It was Suggested, therefore, that during the spring term, I prepare and deliver a course of lectures on some questions of modern government. This I did, making my text the preamble of the Constitution of the United States. In explaining the meaning of We, the people, used to describe the source of political power, I thought it relevant and important to discuss the proposed changes from our republican form of government to a more direct, democratic government, and this led me to consider the initiative, the referendum and the recall, and also the direct primary, which, while not necessarily involved with the other issues, properly suggested itself for consideration with them. Under the clause of the preamble to form a more perfect union, I considered very briefly the historical issue between those who favored the broad construction of the Federal powers under the Constitution, and those who took the States' About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The Perils of Politics in Government

The Perils of Politics in Government PDF Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic government information
Languages : en
Pages : 120

Get Book

Book Description


Purchasing Submission

Purchasing Submission PDF Author: Philip Hamburger
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674258231
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 337

Get Book

Book Description
From a leading constitutional scholar, an important study of a powerful mode of government control: the offer of money and other privileges to secure submission to unconstitutional power. The federal government increasingly regulates by using money and other benefits to induce private parties and states to submit to its conditions. It thereby enjoys a formidable power, which sidesteps a wide range of constitutional and political limits. Conditions are conventionally understood as a somewhat technical problem of Òunconstitutional conditionsÓÑthose that threaten constitutional rightsÑbut at stake is something much broader and more interesting. With a growing ability to offer vast sums of money and invaluable privileges such as licenses and reduced sentences, the federal government increasingly regulates by placing conditions on its generosity. In this way, it departs not only from the ConstitutionÕs rights but also from its avenues of binding power, thereby securing submission to conditions that regulate, that defeat state laws, that commandeer and reconfigure state governments, that extort, and even that turn private and state institutions into regulatory agents. The problem is expansive, including almost the full range of governance. Conditions need to be recognized as a new mode of powerÑan irregular pathwayÑby which government induces Americans to submit to a wide range of unconstitutional arrangements. Purchasing Submission is the first book to recognize this problem. It explores the danger in depth and suggests how it can be redressed with familiar and practicable legal tools.

On the Abolition of All Political Parties

On the Abolition of All Political Parties PDF Author: Simone Weil
Publisher: New York Review of Books
ISBN: 1590177908
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 97

Get Book

Book Description
An NYRB Classics Original Simone Weil—philosopher, activist, mystic—is one of the most uncompromising of modern spiritual masters. In “On the Abolition of All Political Parties” she challenges the foundation of the modern liberal political order, making an argument that has particular resonance today, when the apathy and anger of the people and the self-serving partisanship of the political class present a threat to democracies all over the world. Dissecting the dynamic of power and propaganda caused by party spirit, the increasing disregard for truth in favor of opinion, and the consequent corruption of education, journalism, and art, Weil forcefully makes the case that a true politics can only begin where party spirit ends. This volume also includes an admiring portrait of Weil by the great poet Czeslaw Milosz and an essay about Weil’s friendship with Albert Camus by the translator Simon Leys.