Neoconservative Politics and the Supreme Court : : Law, Power, and Democracy / / Stephen M. Feldman.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter New York University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Feldman, Stephen M.,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : New York University Press, , [2012]; ©2012
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

In this concise, timely book, constitutional law expert Stephen M. Feldman draws on neoconservative writings to explore the rise of the neocons and their influence on the Supreme Court. Neocons burst onto the political scene in the early 1980s via their assault on pluralist democracy’s ethical relativism, where no pre-existing or higher principles limit the agendas of interest groups. Instead, they advocated for a resurrection of republican democracy, which declares that virtuous citizens and officials pursue the common good. Yet despite their original goals, neocons quickly became an interest group themselves, competing successfully within the pluralist democratic arena. When the political winds shifted in 2008, however, neocons found themselves shorn of power in Congress and the executive branch. But portentously, theystill controlled the Supreme Court. Neoconservative Politics and the Supreme Court explains how and why the neoconservatives criticized but operated within pluralist democracy, and, most important, what the entrenchment of neocons on the Supreme Court means for present and future politics and law.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Reagan, Cross-Pollination, and Neoconservatism: An Introduction -- 2. From Republican to Pluralist Democracy -- 3. Pluralist Democracy: Dissent and Evolution -- 4. On Neoconservatism -- 5. The Supreme Court and Neoconservatism -- 6. The Supreme Court in the Future -- Notes -- Selected Bibliography of Books -- Selected Case Citations -- Index -- About the Author