Our Unsettled Constitution: A New Defense of Constitutionalism and...
Seidman, Louis Michael. Our Unsettled Constitution: A New Defense of Constitutionalism and Judicial Review. New Haven: Yale University Press, [2001]. xi, 260 pp. Cloth hardcover, in dust jacket. New. ISBN-13: 978-0300085310; ISBN-10: 0300085311. Publisher's Price USD 65. Special $35. * First edition. Ours is an age of growing doubt about constitutional theory and of outright hostility to any theory that defends judicial review. Why should a tiny number of unelected judges be able to validate or invalidate laws on such politically controversial issues as abortion, religion, gender, and sex - or even determine how the president is elected? In this provocative book, a leading constitutional theorist offers an entirely original defense of judicial review. Louis Michael Seidman argues that judicial review is defensible if we set aside common but erroneous assumptions - that constitutional law should be independent from our political commitments and that the role of constitutional law is to settle political disagreement. Seidman develops a theory of "unsettlement." A constitution that unsettles, that destabilizes outcomes produced by the political process, creates no permanent losers nursing deep-seated grievances, he says. An "unsettling" constitution helps to build a community founded on consent by enticing losers into a continuing conversation. The author applies this theory to an array of well-known cases heard by the Supreme Court over the past several decades, including the fall 2000 election decision.
Price: $35.00
Book number 34431