We the People: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Supreme CourtSeveral 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. |
Contents
3 | |
2 What Is the Constitution? And Other Fundamental Questions | 15 |
What Norms Did We the People Establish? | 48 |
Segregation and Affirmative Action | 88 |
Sex and Sexual Orientation | 117 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
abortion abridge Adarand Constructors affirmative action American constitutional antidiscrimination norm argument Bill of Rights Bork Bruce Ackerman chapter City of Boerne Civil Rights claim conclude Congress constitutional bedrock constitutional law constitutional text constitutionally context Court's decision criterion of selection deny discrimination against homosexuals disfavored due process enacted enforce example Fifth Amendment forbids Fourteenth Amendment free exercise governmental purpose Harrison homosexuals Human Rights Immunities Clause immunities norm established indeterminate interpretation issue judgment judicial review judicial usurpation Justice legislation outlawing legitimate governmental liberty ment Michael moral national government nonwhite particular persons physician-assisted suicide position Posner premise privileges and immunities privileges or immunities question race race-based affirmative racial segregation racist racist basis Raoul Berger reason Richard Richard Posner Ronald Dworkin Scalia statute strict scrutiny Supreme Court T]he teenth Amendment Things tion tional United usurpation of politics violate women
Popular passages
Page 2 - Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid and comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
References to this book
Encyclopedia of Constitutional Amendments, Proposed Amendments, and Amending ... John R. Vile No preview available - 2003 |
Religion and the Law in America: An Encyclopedia of Personal ..., Volume 1 Scott A. Merriman No preview available - 2007 |