Religion, Law and the Growth of Constitutional Thought
Author: Brian Tierney
Publisher:
Published: 1983
Total Pages: 114
ISBN-13:
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Keeping Faith with the Constitution
Author: Goodwin Liu
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2010-08-05
Total Pages: 274
ISBN-13: 0199752834
DOWNLOAD EBOOKChief Justice John Marshall argued that a constitution "requires that only its great outlines should be marked [and] its important objects designated." Ours is "intended to endure for ages to come, and consequently, to be adapted to the various crises of human affairs." In recent years, Marshall's great truths have been challenged by proponents of originalism and strict construction. Such legal thinkers as Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia argue that the Constitution must be construed and applied as it was when the Framers wrote it. In Keeping Faith with the Constitution, three legal authorities make the case for Marshall's vision. They describe their approach as "constitutional fidelity"--not to how the Framers would have applied the Constitution, but to the text and principles of the Constitution itself. The original understanding of the text is one source of interpretation, but not the only one; to preserve the meaning and authority of the document, to keep it vital, applications of the Constitution must be shaped by precedent, historical experience, practical consequence, and societal change. The authors range across the history of constitutional interpretation to show how this approach has been the source of our greatest advances, from Brown v. Board of Education to the New Deal, from the Miranda decision to the expansion of women's rights. They delve into the complexities of voting rights, the malapportionment of legislative districts, speech freedoms, civil liberties and the War on Terror, and the evolution of checks and balances. The Constitution's framers could never have imagined DNA, global warming, or even women's equality. Yet these and many more realities shape our lives and outlook. Our Constitution will remain vital into our changing future, the authors write, if judges remain true to this rich tradition of adaptation and fidelity.
The Religion Clauses of the First Amendment
Author: Ellis M. West
Publisher: Lexington Books
Published: 2012-07-10
Total Pages: 218
ISBN-13: 0739146793
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe First Amendment of the U. S. Constitution begins: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . . ." The Supreme Court has consistently held that these words, usually called the "religion clauses," were meant to prohibit laws that violate religious freedom or equality. In recent years, however, a growing number of constitutional law and history scholars have contended that the religion clauses were not intended to protect religious freedom, but to reserve the states' rights to legislate on. If the states' rights interpretation of the religion clauses were correct and came to be accepted by the Supreme Court, it could profoundly affect the way the Court decides church-state cases involving state laws. It would allow the states to legislate on religion-even to violate religious freedom, discriminate on the basis of religion, or to establish a particular religion. This book carefully, thoroughly, and critically examines all the arguments for such an interpretation and, more importantly, all the available historical evidence. It concludes that the clauses were meant to protect religious freedom and equality of the individuals not the states' rights
Constitutional Secularism in an Age of Religious Revival
Author: Susanna Mancini
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 2014
Total Pages: 386
ISBN-13: 0199660387
DOWNLOAD EBOOKTraditional models of constitutional secularism have struggled to accommodate the modern revival of religious politics. The concept has been criticised as empty or illegitimate, while political and legal struggles have contested its meaning. This book gathers leading experts to examine the scope and substance of constitutional secularism today.
Medieval law in context
Author: Anthony Musson
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Published: 2020-01-03
Total Pages: 287
ISBN-13: 1526148293
DOWNLOAD EBOOKExamines how medieval people at all social levels thought about law, justice and politics, as well as their role in society. Provides a clear, structured view of judicial developments and experience of litigation in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Offers a new perspective on both law and politics by focusing on the medium of legal consciousness and legal culture.. Makes the specialised area of law accessible for the general reader interested in the medieval period.
The Living Constitution
Author: David A. Strauss
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2010-05-19
Total Pages: 171
ISBN-13: 0199703698
DOWNLOAD EBOOKSupreme 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.
Religion and the Rise of Democracy
Author: Graham Maddox
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2012-09-10
Total Pages: 325
ISBN-13: 1134973527
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn a major original study, Graham Maddox analyses the role of religion in the development of democracy from the tribes of ancient Israel to the present day. The book contrasts Athenian direct democracy with the Old Testament monarchy in which the concept of religious opposition - vital to modern democracy - arose. Maddox then develops his discussion of the relationship between religion and democracy through early christianity to the Reformation and Calvinism, ending with a chapter on modern democracy. Maddox's contentious thesis concerning the development of democracy is truly interdisciplinary drawing on political science, religious history and theology.
First Amendment Institutions
Author: Paul Horwitz
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 2013-01-07
Total Pages: 490
ISBN-13: 0674070925
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAddressing a host of hot-button issues, from the barring of Christian student groups and military recruiters from law schools and universities to churches’ immunity from civil rights legislation in hiring and firing ministers, Paul Horwitz proposes a radical reformation of First Amendment law. Arguing that rigidly doctrinal approaches can’t account for messy, real-world situations, he suggests that the courts loosen their reins and let those institutions with a stake in First Amendment freedoms do more of the work of enforcing them. Universities, the press, libraries, churches, and various other institutions and associations are a fundamental part of the infrastructure of public discourse. Rather than subject them to ill-fitting, top-down rules and legal categories, courts should make them partners in shaping public discourse and First Amendment law, giving these institutions substantial autonomy to regulate their own affairs. Self-regulation and public criticism should be the key restraints on these institutions, not judicial fiat. Horwitz suggests that this approach would help the law enhance the contribution of our “First Amendment institutions” to social and political life. It would also move us toward a conception of the state as a participating member of our social framework, rather than a reigning and often overbearing sovereign. First Amendment Institutions offers a new vantage point from which to evaluate ongoing debates over topics ranging from campaign finance reform to campus hate speech and affirmative action in higher education. This book promises to promote—and provoke—important new discussions about the shape and future of the First Amendment.
Constitutionalism
Author: Charles Howard McIlwain
Publisher: The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.
Published: 2005
Total Pages: 172
ISBN-13: 1584775505
DOWNLOAD EBOOKExamines of the rise of constitutionalism from the "democratic strands" in the works of Aristotle and Cicero through the transitional moment between the medieval and the modern eras.
Common Good Constitutionalism
Author: Adrian Vermeule
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Published: 2022-02-08
Total Pages: 171
ISBN-13: 1509548882
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe way that Americans understand their Constitution and wider legal tradition has been dominated in recent decades by two exhausted approaches: the originalism of conservatives and the “living constitutionalism” of progressives. Is it time to look for an alternative? Adrian Vermeule argues that the alternative has been there, buried in the American legal tradition, all along. He shows that US law was, from the founding, subsumed within the broad framework of the classical legal tradition, which conceives law as “a reasoned ordering to the common good.” In this view, law’s purpose is to promote the goods a flourishing political community requires: justice, peace, prosperity, and morality. He shows how this legacy has been lost, despite still being implicit within American public law, and convincingly argues for its recovery in the form of “common good constitutionalism.” This erudite and brilliantly original book is a vital intervention in America’s most significant contemporary legal debate while also being an enduring account of the true nature of law that will resonate for decades with scholars and students.
