There is no Supreme Constitution

There is no Supreme Constitution PDF Author: Koos Malan
Publisher: AFRICAN SUN MeDIA
ISBN: 1928480268
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
None of the articles of faith of the South African Constitution is plausible. The Constitution is not supreme and entrenched. Subject to potent socio-political forces it changes continuously and often profoundly regardless of stringent amendment requirements. The trite threefold separation of powers is more metaphorical than real and therefore unable to secure effective checks and balances. Though institutionally separated with their own personnel and functions, the three powers are ordinarily integrated in a single dominant political leadership, committed to achieving the same ideological goals. The bill of individual rights cannot guarantee justice, because rights are subject to the ideologically-driven exercise of judicial interpretation, often with damaging consequences for those relying on the bill of rights. This situation does not only apply to South Africa, but to all Constitutions premised on the same articles of faith, in this book described as the doctrine of statist-individualist constitutionalism. An improved mode of constitutionalism is called for - one which is equipped with a sounder system of checks and balances and better endowed towards the achievement of justice through a balanced constitution.

There is no Supreme Constitution

There is no Supreme Constitution PDF Author: Koos Malan
Publisher: AFRICAN SUN MeDIA
ISBN: 1928480268
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 312

Get Book Here

Book Description
None of the articles of faith of the South African Constitution is plausible. The Constitution is not supreme and entrenched. Subject to potent socio-political forces it changes continuously and often profoundly regardless of stringent amendment requirements. The trite threefold separation of powers is more metaphorical than real and therefore unable to secure effective checks and balances. Though institutionally separated with their own personnel and functions, the three powers are ordinarily integrated in a single dominant political leadership, committed to achieving the same ideological goals. The bill of individual rights cannot guarantee justice, because rights are subject to the ideologically-driven exercise of judicial interpretation, often with damaging consequences for those relying on the bill of rights. This situation does not only apply to South Africa, but to all Constitutions premised on the same articles of faith, in this book described as the doctrine of statist-individualist constitutionalism. An improved mode of constitutionalism is called for - one which is equipped with a sounder system of checks and balances and better endowed towards the achievement of justice through a balanced constitution.

Not a Suicide Pact

Not a Suicide Pact PDF Author: Richard A. Posner
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195304276
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
Many of the measures taken by the Bush administration since 9/11 have sparkedheated protests. Judge Richard A. Posner offers a cogent and elegant responseto these protests, arguing that personal liberty must be balanced with publicsafety in the face of grave national danger.

The People Themselves

The People Themselves PDF Author: Larry Kramer
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780195306453
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 380

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Book Description
This book makes the radical claim that rather than interpreting the Constitution from on high, the Court should be reflecting popular will--or the wishes of the people themselves.

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.

A Right to Lie?

A Right to Lie? PDF Author: Catherine J. Ross
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812253256
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
Do the nation's highest officers, including the President, have a right to lie protected by the First Amendment? If not, what can be done to protect the nation under this threat? This book explores the various options.

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.

How Rights Went Wrong

How Rights Went Wrong PDF Author: Jamal Greene
Publisher: Mariner Books
ISBN: 1328518116
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
An eminent constitutional scholar reveals how our approach to rights is dividing America, and shows how we can build a better system of justice.

We the People

We the People PDF Author: Erwin Chemerinsky
Publisher: Picador
ISBN: 1250166004
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
"This work will become the defining text on progressive constitutionalism — a parallel to Thomas Picketty’s contribution but for all who care deeply about constitutional law. Beautifully written and powerfully argued, this is a masterpiece." --Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law School, and author of Free Culture Worried about what a super conservative majority on the Supreme Court means for the future of civil liberties? From gun control to reproductive health, a conservative court will reshape the lives of all Americans for decades to come. The time to develop and defend a progressive vision of the U.S. Constitution that protects the rights of all people is now. University of California Berkeley Dean and respected legal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky expertly exposes how conservatives are using the Constitution to advance their own agenda that favors business over consumers and employees, and government power over individual rights. But exposure is not enough. Progressives have spent too much of the last forty-five years trying to preserve the legacy of the Warren Court’s most important rulings and reacting to the Republican-dominated Supreme Courts by criticizing their erosion of rights—but have not yet developed a progressive vision for the Constitution itself. Yet, if we just look to the promise of the Preamble—liberty and justice for all—and take seriously its vision, a progressive reading of the Constitution can lead us forward as we continue our fight ensuring democratic rule, effective government, justice, liberty, and equality. Includes the Complete Constitution and Amendments of the United States of America

Crisis and Constitutionalism

Crisis and Constitutionalism PDF Author: Benjamin Straumann
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019995092X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
The crisis and fall of the Roman Republic spawned a tradition of political thought that sought to evade the Republic's fate--despotism. Thinkers from Cicero to Bodin, Montesquieu, and the American Founders saw constitutionalism, not virtue, as the remedy. This study traces Roman constitutional thought from antiquity to the Revolutionary Era.

Restoring the Lost Constitution

Restoring the Lost Constitution PDF Author: Randy E. Barnett
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691159734
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
The U.S. Constitution found in school textbooks and under glass in Washington is not the one enforced today by the Supreme Court. In Restoring the Lost Constitution, Randy Barnett argues that since the nation's founding, but especially since the 1930s, the courts have been cutting holes in the original Constitution and its amendments to eliminate the parts that protect liberty from the power of government. From the Commerce Clause, to the Necessary and Proper Clause, to the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, to the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Supreme Court has rendered each of these provisions toothless. In the process, the written Constitution has been lost. Barnett establishes the original meaning of these lost clauses and offers a practical way to restore them to their central role in constraining government: adopting a "presumption of liberty" to give the benefit of the doubt to citizens when laws restrict their rightful exercises of liberty. He also provides a new, realistic and philosophically rigorous theory of constitutional legitimacy that justifies both interpreting the Constitution according to its original meaning and, where that meaning is vague or open-ended, construing it so as to better protect the rights retained by the people. As clearly argued as it is insightful and provocative, Restoring the Lost Constitution forcefully disputes the conventional wisdom, posing a powerful challenge to which others must now respond. This updated edition features an afterword with further reflections on individual popular sovereignty, originalist interpretation, judicial engagement, and the gravitational force that original meaning has exerted on the Supreme Court in several recent cases.