Overview

For much of the second half of the 20th century, America's courts - state and federal - have injected themselves into what many critics consider to be fundamentally moral or political disputes. By constitutionalizing these disputes courts have arguably reduced the ability of Americans to engage in traditional, political modes of settling differences. While legal discourse is well-suited to choosing decisive winners and losers, political discourse is perhaps more conducive to reasonable compromise and accommodation. This text brings together some of America's thinkers in constitutional theory and practice to consider the impact of judicial engagement in the moral, religious and cultural realms - including school prayer, abortion, homosexual rights, and expressive speech - and the threat the judiciary poses to the very legitimacy of the American republican regime.

Full Product Details

Author:   Bradley C. S. Watson, Saint Vincent College ,  Robert H. Bork ,  Francis Canavan ,  Murray Dry
Publisher:   Lexington Books
Imprint:   Lexington Books
Dimensions:   Width: 15.70cm , Height: 2.40cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.476kg
ISBN:  

9780739104149

ISBN 10:   0739104144
Pages:   236
Publication Date:   28 October 2002
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Part 1 Introduction: Courting Disaster: Jurisprudence as Moral Philosophy Part 2 Courts and Culture: Fundamental Theoretical Issues Chapter 3 Courts and the Culture Wars Chapter 4 From Ockham to Blackmun: The Philosophical Roots of Liberal Jurisprudence Chapter 5 The Death of the Legal Constitution and the Specter of Judicial Review Part 6 Cultural Controversies and the Courts: Abortion, Homosexuality, Church and State Chapter 7 The Right to Life, the Higher Law, and the Courts Chapter 8 Who Owns the Right to Privacy? Chapter 9 Tolerance and American Constitutionalism: The Case of Gay Rights Chapter 10 Religious Freedom Without Religious Neutrality: Our Once and Future Constitutional Common Sense Part 11 Judicial Practice and the Culture Wars Chapter 12 The One-Way Ratchet and Other Problems of Stare Decisis for Cultural Conservatives Chapter 13 The California Supreme Court in the Culture Wars: A Case Study in Judicial Failure Part 14 Courts, Culture, and Liberal Democracy Chapter 15 Courts, Culture, and Community: Rescuing Constitutional Supremacy from Judicial Supremacy Chapter 16 The Voting Rights Act and the Politics of Multiculturalism: The Challenge to Commercial Republicanism at Century's Turn

Reviews

Courts and the Culture Wars casts a spotlight on the role that judges and lawyers have played in undercutting Americans' ability to have a say in setting the conditions under which they live, work and raise their children. These essays by some of the nation's most forthright social critics are lively, provocative, and sobering. -- Mary Ann Glendon, Harvard University

Courts and the Culture Wars casts a spotlight on the role that judges and lawyers have played in undercutting Americans' ability to have a say in setting the conditions under which they live, work and raise their children. These essays by some of the nation's most forthright social critics are lively, provocative, and sobering.--Glendon, Mary Ann

Courts and the Culture Wars casts a spotlight on the role that judges and lawyers have played in undercutting Americans' ability to have a say in setting the conditions under which they live, work and raise their children. These essays by some of the nation's most forthright social critics are lively, provocative, and sobering.--Glendon, Mary Ann

Author Information

Bradley C. S. Watson is Associate Professor of Political Science and Fellow in Politics and Culture in the Center for Economic and Policy Education at Saint Vincent College. He is the author of Civil Rights and the Paradox of Liberal Democracy, (Lexington Books, 1999).

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