Overview

Several of the most divisive moral conflicts that have beset Americans in the period since World War II have been transmuted into constitutional conflicts and resolved as such. In his new book, eminent legal scholar Michael Perry evaluates the grave charge that the modern Supreme Court has engineered a ""judicial usurpation of politics."" In particular, Perry inquires which of several major Fourteenth Amendment conflicts--over race segregation, race-based affirmative action, sex-based discrimination, homosexuality, abortion, and physician-assisted suicide--have been resolved as they should have been. He lays the necessary groundwork for his inquiry by addressing questions of both constitutional theory and constitutional history. A clear-eyed examination of some of the perennial controversies in American life, We the People is a major contribution to modern constitutional studies.

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9780195151251

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Perry has written an ambitious, thoughtful, and provocative book that combines theoretical analysis of interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment with nuanced discussions of several specific constitutional cases. It is a worthy addition to the large and diverse scholarly literature on the Fourteenth Amendment.--Perspectives on Politics Science We the People develops a detailed....highly intelligent reading of the Constitution and how to interpret it and its amendments....An excellent complement to law, Civil War, and constitutional interpretation collections for upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and professionals. --Choice Valuable. . . . While far from a must-agree, it is definitely a must-read. [Perry's] original contribution is to link Fourteenth Amendment interpretation with democratic theory. In so doing, he manages to break the nexus between review of the record and ratification of personal opinion. --Law and Politics Book Review We The People is a learned, passionate, and endlessly interesting analysis... --Judicature Perry has written an ambitious, thoughtful, and provocative book that combines theoretical analysis of interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment with nuanced discussions of several specific constitutional cases. It is a worthy addition to the large and diverse scholarly literature on the Fourteenth Amendment.--Perspectives on Politics Science We the People develops a detailed....highly intelligent reading of the Constitution and how to interpret it and its amendments....An excellent complement to law, Civil War, and constitutional interpretation collections for upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and professionals. --Choice Valuable. . . . While far from a must-agree, it is definitely a must-read. [Perry's] original contribution is to link Fourteenth Amendment interpretation with democratic theory. In so doing, he manages to break the nexus between review of the record and ratification of personal opinion. --Law and Politics Book Review Michael Perry is a reflective man, and he is no doubt representative of the commentators now writing in the schools of law. And as he tries to address, through the law, questions of moral consequence, we may indeed see the furnishings of mind that prevail in the schools of law and shape the character of our judges. --First Things

<br>Perry has written an ambitious, thoughtful, and provocative book that combines theoretical analysis of interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment with nuanced discussions of several specific constitutional cases. It is a worthy addition to the large and diverse scholarly literature on the Fourteenth Amendment.--Perspectives on Politics Science<p><br> We the People develops a detailed....highly intelligent reading of the Constitution and how to interpret it and its amendments....An excellent complement to law, Civil War, and constitutional interpretation collections for upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and professionals. --Choice<p><br> Valuable. . . . While far from a must-agree, it is definitely a must-read. [Perry's] original contribution is to link Fourteenth Amendment interpretation with democratic theory. In so doing, he manages to break the nexus between review of the record and ratification of personal opinion. --Law andPolitics Book Review<p><br>

Perry has written an ambitious, thoughtful, and provocative book that combines theoretical analysis of interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment with nuanced discussions of several specific constitutional cases. It is a worthy addition to the large and diverse scholarly literature on the Fourteenth Amendment.--Perspectives on Politics Science<br> We the People develops a detailed....highly intelligent reading of the Constitution and how to interpret it and its amendments....An excellent complement to law, Civil War, and constitutional interpretation collections for upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and professionals. --Choice<br> Valuable. . . . While far from a must-agree, it is definitely a must-read. [Perry's] original contribution is to link Fourteenth Amendment interpretation with democratic theory. In so doing, he manages to break the nexus between review of the record and ratification of personal opinion. --Law and Politics Book Review<br>

Author Information

Michael J. Perry holds the University Distinguished Chair in Law at Wake Forest University. From 1982 to 1997, he taught at the Northwestern University School of Law, where he held the Howard J. Trienens Chair in Law. Perry is the author of several books, including The Idea of Human Rights: Four Inquiries (Oxford, 1998), Religion in Politics: Constitutional and Moral Perspectives (Oxford, 1997), The Constitution in the Courts: Law or Politics? (Oxford, 1994), and Love and Power: The Role of Religion and Morality in American Politics (Oxford, 1991).

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