Law and Legitimacy in the Supreme Court / / Richard H. Fallon Jr.
Why do self-proclaimed constitutional “originalists” so regularly reach decisions with a politically conservative valence? Do “living constitutionalists” claim a license to reach whatever results they prefer, without regard to the Constitution’s language and history? In confronting these questions,...
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Superior document: | Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Harvard University Press Complete eBook-Package 2018 |
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Place / Publishing House: | Cambridge, MA : : Harvard University Press, , [2018] ©2018 |
Year of Publication: | 2018 |
Language: | English |
Online Access: | |
Physical Description: | 1 online resource (240 p.) |
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Other title: | Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1. Legitimacy and Judicial Authority -- 2. Constitutional Meaning -- 3. Constitutional Meaning -- 4. Law in the Supreme Court -- 5. Constitutional Constraints -- 6. Constitutional Theory and Its Relation to Constitutional Practice -- 7. Sociological, Legal, and Moral Legitimacy -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Index |
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Summary: | Why do self-proclaimed constitutional “originalists” so regularly reach decisions with a politically conservative valence? Do “living constitutionalists” claim a license to reach whatever results they prefer, without regard to the Constitution’s language and history? In confronting these questions, Richard H. Fallon reframes and ultimately transcends familiar debates about constitutional law, constitutional theory, and judicial legitimacy. Drawing from ideas in legal scholarship, philosophy, and political science, Fallon presents a theory of judicial legitimacy based on an ideal of good faith in constitutional argumentation. Good faith demands that the Justices base their decisions only on legal arguments that they genuinely believe to be valid and are prepared to apply to similar future cases. Originalists are correct about this much. But good faith does not forbid the Justices to refine and adjust their interpretive theories in response to the novel challenges that new cases present. Fallon argues that theories of constitutional interpretation should be works in progress, not rigid formulas laid down in advance of the unforeseeable challenges that life and experience generate. Law and Legitimacy in the Supreme Court offers theories of constitutional law and judicial legitimacy that accept many tenets of legal realism but reject its corrosive cynicism. Fallon’s account both illuminates current practice and prescribes urgently needed responses to a legitimacy crisis in which the Supreme Court is increasingly enmeshed. |
Format: | Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web. |
ISBN: | 9780674986114 9783110606621 |
DOI: | 10.4159/9780674986114 |
Access: | restricted access |
Hierarchical level: | Monograph |
Statement of Responsibility: | Richard H. Fallon Jr. |