A brilliant new approach to the Constitution and courts of the United States by Supreme
Court Justice Stephen Breyer.For Justice Breyer, the Constitution’s primary role is to preserve and encourage what he calls “active liberty”: citizen participation in shaping government ...
This text is a general introduction to American judicial process. The authors cover the major
institutions, actors, and processes that comprise the U.S. legal system, viewed from a political science perspective. Grounding their presentation in empirical social science terms, the ...
Over the past two decades, the United States has seen an intense debate about the
composition of the federal judiciary. Are judges activists? Should they stop legislating from the bench? Are they abusing their authority? Or are they protecting fundamental ...
Seventeen thought-provoking essays in this sophisticated yet accessible reader demonstrate how political scientists conduct research
on law, courts, and the judicial process, and at the same time answer interesting, substantive questions. Illustrating the breadth and depth of judicial politics studies, ...
The rule of law paradigm has long operated on the premise that independent judges disregard
extralegal influences and impartially uphold the law. A political transformation several generations in the making, however, has imperiled this premise. Social science learning, the lessons ...
Judges and legal scholars talk past one another, if they have any conversation at all.
Academics couch their criticisms of judicial decisions in theoretical terms, which leads many judgesat the risk of intellectual stagnationto dismiss most academic discourse as opaque ...
Today's United States Supreme Court consists of nine intriguingly varied justices and one overwhelming contradiction:
Compared to its revolutionary predecessor, the Rehnquist Court appears deceptively passive, yet it stands as dramatically ready to defy convention as the Warren Court of ...
Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2008The U.S. Supreme Court has decided that states may require
parental involvement in the abortion decisions of pregnant minors as long as minors have the opportunity to petition for a “bypass” of parental involvement. To ...